Medicinal Plants Used in Treatment of Vaginal Atrophy in Postmenopausal Women: A Systematic Review

Background and purpose: Volvovaginal atrophy is a common and progressive complication in menopausal women, affecting their daily life activities, sexual health, and quality of life. Hormone therapy is associated with some problems and many women prefer herbal medicine to reduce the symptoms. This systematic review aimed to explore the effect of medicinal plants on treatment of vaginal atrophy in postmenopausal women Materials and methods: Electronic databases, including Scopus, Pubmed, Web of Science, Science Direct, SID, Magiran and Google Scholar search engine were searched by two researchers independently. The following keywords were used in English and Persian: Herbal Medicine, Medicinal Plants, vagina, Atrophy, Postmenopausal Period, Clinical Trial, and relevant articles published until December 2020 were selected. The CONSORT 2010 checklist was used to assess the quality of studies and those with score 18 or higher entered this systematic review. Results: Out of 747 articles, 12 clinical trials were investigated in current review. These articles studied seven medicinal plants (chamomile, licorice, fennel, Pueraria mirifica, flaxseed, black cohosh, and red clover). Herbal products can have beneficial effects on reducing the symptoms of vaginal atrophy in postmenopausal women. Conclusion: Medicinal plants containing phytoestrogens can be considered as a treatment of choice for improving vaginal atrophy and a suitable alternative to chemical drugs following further studies that prove their efficacy.