REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS FOR IDENTIFYING THE COMMERCIALIZING POTENTIAL OF A HERBAL REMEDY FOR THE TREATMENT OF DYSMENORRHEA

Abstract

Dysmenorrhea is one of the most prevalent gynecological disorder among the menstruating women. Though it is not a life threatening condition, its negative effects on the women’s daily life and thereby socioeconomic development of the country cannot be ignored. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been effectively used as the first line treatment for dysmenorrhea. The potential side effects make patients reluctant to use currently available NSAIDs. Throughout the history people have used herbal medications for the treatment and management of dysmenorrhea. However, scientific studies on their therapeutic efficacy and safety are inadequately reported. Requirement analyses are essential prior to introduce novel herbal products to the consumers. The present study was designed to carry out requirement and demographic analysis to identify commercializing potential of a herbal formulation that developed to reduce pain and associated problems with dysmenorrhea. A group of 35 female individuals, age 24 to 28 years, were randomly selected and a structured questionnaire was distributed for the collection of data including menstrual pattern, nature and the duration of the pain, treatment taken during the pain, socio-demographic factors, etc. Out of 35, only 30 responses were received. Within the sample, 7.7% were married while 92.3% were unmarried. Thirty-one percent of the women described their menstrual cycle as irregular and 84% has experienced moderate to severe pain. The average duration of the cycle was 3 to 6 days and the pain was persisted for 1 to 3 days. However, 91% of the women were suffering from the pain for 1 to 2 days. The severity of menstrual pain decreased with thetime. According to the chi square test results, significant relationship (P = 0.032 < 0.5) was observed between pain and irregularity of the menstrual cycle. In conclusion, severe menstrual pain is a common situation among the young females and there is a great potential to develop remedies.