SynthesisScientific reports2018
Heat therapy for primary dysmenorrhea: A systematic review and meta-analysis of its effects on pain relief and quality of life.
Synthesis in Scientific reports, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05664048 (Effects of Dry Heat Application on Menstrual Symptoms and Pain), which is not on this map. Cited by 35 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Effects of Dry Heat Application on Menstrual Symptoms and Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 104 citations in OpenAlex.
- Self-management strategies for menstrual cycle symptoms: a systematic review.BMC women's health · 2026Pooled it
- Burden, impacts and management practices of dysmenorrhea among female students in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.International health · 2025Pooled it
- Heat therapy for primary dysmenorrhea: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Effect of Myofascial Release on Pain and Uterine Artery Hemodynamic Indices in Women with Primary Dysmenorrhea: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Trial
- Impact of Adlay-Based Formula on Pain and Discomfort in Women with Dysmenorrhea: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Nutrients · 2024Trial
- Article
- Multimodal Physical Therapy Management of Dysmenorrhea With Coexisting Mechanical Low Back Pain and Early Degenerative Lumbar Spondylosis: A Case Report.Clinical case reports · 2026Article
- Effectiveness of pain neuroscience education in women with dysmenorrhea: controlled clinical trial.BMC women's health · 2026Article
- An Overarching Conceptual Framework for Menstrual Health in Sport Research: Theory, Causality and Validation.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Review
- Self-Reported Dysmenorrhea Among Adolescent Girls in the Cape Coast Metropolis: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Superficial heat therapy in women's health.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- Holistic approach to dysmenorrhea management: Integrating pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for improved women's health in the Middle East and Africa.BMC women's health · 2025Review
- Vitexin as a Potential Antidysmenorrheic Agent: Development of a ZIF-8-Based Immediate-Release System and Evaluation via In Vivo and In Silico Approaches.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- The Synergistic Effect of Heat Therapy and Electroacupuncture Treatment in Inflammatory Pain Mouse Models.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Article
- Exploring the role of negative expectations and emotions in primary dysmenorrhea: insights from a case-control study.BMC women's health · 2025Article
- Clinical association of body symptoms and primary dysmenorrhea among young and middle-aged women: an observational study.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Traditional Chinese medicine treatment strategies for primary dysmenorrhea.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Review
- A Local Heating Profile to Manage Lower Back Pain in an Automotive Seat: A Pilot Study.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Self-management of primary dysmenorrhea-related pain: cross-sectional study on non-pharmacological interventions.Pain management · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Primary dysmenorrhea, which is menstrual pain without pelvic pathology, is the most common gynecologic condition in women. Heat therapy has been used as a treatment. We assessed the evidence on heat therapy as a treatment for primary dysmenorrhea. We searched 11 databases for studies published through July 2018. All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that addressed heat therapy for patients with primary dysmenorrhea were included. Data extraction and risk-of-bias assessments were performed by two independent reviewers. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. Six RCTs met our inclusion criteria. Two RCTs found favorable effects of heat therapy on menstrual pain compared with unheated placebo therapy. Three RCTs found favorable effects of heating pads on menstrual pain compared with analgesic medication (n = 274; SMD -0.72; 95% confidence interval -0.97 to -0.48; P < 0.001; two studies). One RCT showed beneficial effects of heat therapy on menstrual pain compared with no treatment (n = 132; MD -4.04 VAS; 95% CI -4.88 to -3.20; P < 0.001). However, these results are based on relatively few trials with small sample sizes. Our review provided suggestive evidence of the effectiveness of heat therapy for primary dysmenorrhea, but rigorous high-quality trials are still needed to provide robust evidence.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.