Prostaglandin synthetase inhibitors and dysmenorrhea. A survey and personal clinical experience.

A survey of earlier published studies on treatment of dysmenorrhea with prostaglandin synthetase inhibitors is given and personal clinical experiences are presented. The time when treatment should start in relation to the onset of bleeding is also discussed. A survey of studies published in English and Scandinavian literature yielded 532 patients. Pain relief was experienced in 64 to 100 per cent of the patients in these studies. The incidence of side-effects has generally been low but in a few studies a high incidence was reported. In the current study 34 patients with prinary dysmenorrhea completed the douule-blind, placebo controlled study on naproxen. The patients were treated for two cycles, 16 with naproxen and 18 with placebo. The mean relief score indicated a "slight to good" pain relief in the naproxen group and "no alleviation" in the placebo group. The difference is statistically significant (p = 0.003). Supplementary medication was much more used in the placebo group compared to the naproxen group (p = 0.01). In the placebo group no change whatsoever was demonstrated in alleviation of interference with every-day life, whereas there was a statistically significant improvement in the naproxen group. No major side-effect was registered. Thus none of the subjects withdrew from the study.