Thyme Tea and Primary Dysmenorrhea Among Young Female Students

Thyme tea, locally known as "tossign tea", is one of the most popular herbal-tea in Ethiopia used for the medicinal attribute, besides adding aroma and flavor to the tea. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the effect of thyme tea-drinking and other dietary factors of school girls on primary dysmenorrhea.

An institutional case-control study was conducted from December 2019 to March 2020 in the suburbs of Debre Berhan town, Ethiopia. Data were collected through a face-to-face interview using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire on 252 (86 cases and 166 controls) study participants. Data were entered to Epi Data version 3.1 and then exported to IBM SPSS version 24 for analysis. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regressions were carried out to identify factors significantly associated with primary dysmenorrhea.

The mean (±SD) age of cases was 15.98 (±1.60) years and controls was 15.73 (±1.35) years. Thyme tea drinking was reported by 19 (22.1%) of cases and 56 (33.7%) of controls. Thyme tea-drinking decreased the risk of primary dysmenorrhea by 63.2% (AOR: 0.368, 95% CI: 0.145-0.934). Coffee drinking tends to increase the odds of severe dysmenorrhea on young female students. Besides, age, age at menarche, meal frequency, and residence were significantly associated with primary dysmenorrhea.

Thyme tea-drinking, consumption of vegetables and fruits had primary dysmenorrhea related pain-relieving tendency. Delayed onset of menarche decreased the risk of primary dysmenorrhea. Coffee drinking was positively associated with primary dysmenorrhea. Further studies on the effect of thyme tea on primary dysmenorrhea are required.