The 4-month effect of Vitex agnuscastus plant on sexual function of women of reproductive age: A clinical trial
نویسندگان
1 Reproductive Health Research Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, Alzahra Hospital, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran
2 Department of Traditional Pharmacy, School of Traditional Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
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4 Midwifery and Reproductive Health Research Center, Department of Midwifery and Reproductive Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
5 Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
6 Department of Basic Sciences, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
doi
چکیده
BACKGROUND: Sexual dysfunction in women is a common disorder. Yet, there is no consensuson its treatment. Few studies have shown that Vitex agnus‑castus improves sexual dysfunction inpostmenopausal women; the present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of V. agnus‑castuson the female sexual function in the reproductive age.MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a double‑blinded randomized control clinical trial on thewomen of reproductive age referred to the gynecology clinic of Al‑Zahra Medical Center in Rasht, Iran,from February 2018 to December 2019. The intervention group received Agnugol tablet containing3.2–4.8 mg dried extract V. agnus‑castus (51 participants) and the control group received a placebotablet (51 participants). All participants received one tablet daily for 16 weeks. The participants wereasked to complete the Female Sexual Function Index questionnaire at the beginning of the study andafter 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks. Data were analyzed in SPSS statistics (version 21) using Chi‑squaretest, t‑test, Mann–Whitney U‑test, analysis of variance, and mixed model to examine the differencesbetween the groups.RESULTS: The results showed that the difference between the two groups was not significant ineach domain, but there was a significant difference in the overall sexual function mean score sothat the intervention group had a higher score than the placebo group after 16 weeks (P < 0.05).CONCLUSION: In the present study, it was observed that the consumption of V. agnus‑castus during16 weeks was more effective than the placebo in improving sexual dysfunction. Further studies withlarger sample sizes are needed to be able to decide on the prescription of this drug in the clinics.
