Date of Award

2015

Degree Type

Selective Evidence-Based Medicine Review

Degree Name

Master of Science in Health Sciences - Physician Assistant

Department

Physician Assistant Studies

Department Chair

John Cavenagh, MBA, PhD, PA-C

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not ginger is a safe and effective treatment for moderate or severe dysmenorrhea in females over the age of 18.

STUDY DESIGN: Review of three randomized controlled studies. All three studies are published in English between 2009-2013.

DATA SOURCES: Three randomized placebo controlled studies found using PubMed and Medline.

OUTCOMES MEASURED: The outcomes that were measured were severity of pain, duration of pain, change in symptoms, and change in severity. This was done by using a visual analogue scale, 5-point Likert scale, Wilcoxon’s rank-sum test, and verbal multidimensional scoring system.

RESULTS: The first study, the Jenabi study showed that 29 subjects, 82.85%, reported improvement in their dysmenorrhea symptoms compared to 16 subjects, 47.05%, in the placebo group determined by the five-point Likert scale. In the second study, Ozgoli et al study showed that 62% of subject showed improvement using ginger capsules via a verbal multidimensional scoring system, as compared to 66% of patients using ibuprofen respectively. The third study, Rahnama et al study showed that the ginger group reported 11 hours less pain duration as well as 3 cm less in severity of pain than the placebo group, measured by verbal multidimensional scoring system and visual analogue scale. No serious adverse events were noted in any of the three studies.

CONCLUSIONS: Based on these three trials, ginger is a safe and effective treatment for moderate or severe dysmenorrhea. Each study showed improvement of symptoms or showed it to be as effective as NSAIDs without any serious side effects when using ginger.

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