EFFECTS OF THE EVENING PRIMROSE OIL ON WOMEN'S MASTALGIA: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIALS

Abstract

Paying attention to women's health is important. The majority of women usually suffer from mastalgia. Herbal medicine is more compatible with human body and has fewer side effects because the drugs are natural. Evening Primrose Oil is a novel treatment for the relief of cyclic (premenstrual) and non-cyclic breast pain. The aim of the review is to assess the efficacy of evening prime rose oil (EPO) on mastalgia. Electronic databases (Google scholar, PubMed, Scopus, the Cochrane Library, SID, Iran Medex, Magiran, Medlib and Irandoc) were searched from 1990 up to January 2015 for published randomized controlled Trials (RCTs). Only randomized controlled trials involving Evening Primrose Oil and other drugs agents for mastalgia were included. Background information of the study, participants’ characteristics, and study outcomes were collected out of 143 relevant publication trials, 10 RCTs met the inclusion criteria. Evening Primrose oil showed beneficial effects on Mastalgia in comparison with other drugs used for treatment, which had side effects. It seems that evening Primrose oil can be first line of treatment in mild mastalgia without any side effects. However, efficacy of EPO for moderate to severe mastalgia remains doubtful. Therefore, further studies are required to improve our understanding of management of patients with symptoms of mastalgia.