The effect of bee prepolis on primary dysmenorrhea: a randomized clinical trial

Primary dysmenorrhea typically occurs with no associated pelvic pathology and is common in adolescents and young women. This study evaluated the effect of bee propolis on relief of primary dysmenorrhea.

The study was performed in 2018 in Hamadan, in western Iran, among female students with primary dysmenorrhea. Participants were randomly divided into two groups, using balanced block randomization, and were administered a placebo or bee propolis capsules for 5 days during two menstruation cycles. The number of participants required was estimated to be 86 in total, with 43 students in each group according to the inclusion criteria. We used the visual analog scale to assess pain severity. The independent t-test was conducted for comparing between two groups, using SPSS 16.0.

A significant change was found in the mean pain scores during the first (P<0.001) and second (P<0.001) months after using bee propolis in comparison with placebo. The means of the pain scores in the bee propolis group were 5.32±2.28 and 4.74±2.40 in first and second months after the intervention, respectively, whereas the means of the pain scores in the placebo group were 7.40±1.21 and 7.17±1.24 in first and second months after the intervention, respectively.

Our study showed that the use of bee propolis for two months compared with placebo reduced primary dysmenorrhea during the first and second months after use, with no adverse effects. Therefore, it could be used as an alternative to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for relief of primary dysmenorrhea.