The effect of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation on the intensity of primary dysmenorrhea; a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background: There is no general evidence of the effect of omega-3 on the severity of primary dysmenorrhea. Thus, in this article systematically reviews available evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of the effect of supplementation of n-3 fatty acid therapy in pain relief in primary dysmenorrhea.Methods: The search was done using the following electronic medical databases: ISI Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, ProQuest, proposal registry, and Embase. RCTs of women with primary dysmenorrhea were included in this study; in which compared n-3 fatty acid therapy in pain relief to no treatment or placebo. Two authors independently performed study selection and data collection. Differences in baseline and final values study between the two groups were calculate as standard mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).Results: Five trials (eight comparisons) were eligible for meta-analysis. Pooling of eight estimated effect size was evaluated after meta-analysis of pain intensity. It showed a significant reduction in pain intensity (60 0.89; 95 &, -1.58 0.20; 3 < 0.001). +HWHURJHQHLW\ ZDV high among these studies (I2=93.6%).Conclusion: Omega-3 fatty acids were significantly effective at reducing intensity of primary dysmenorrhea, although the effect has been seen but further studies are needed due to the observed between-studies heterogeneity.Message for policymakers -maximum (100 words): Omega-3 fatty acids were significantly effective at reducing intensity of primary dysmenorrhea and may be suitable for women who can not or do not prefer to use common medications.

کلیدواژه ها:

Omega-3 fatty acids ، primary dysmenorrhea ، meta-analysis