Objectives: To determine the effect of herbal mixture capsule on constipation and sexual function in postmenopausal women with chronic constipation.
Design: Two-armed randomized controlled trial.
Conduct: This study will be conducted on 64 postmenopausal women ages 60-40 years old referring to community health centers in Tabriz. After obtaining written informed consent, eligible individuals will complete questionnaires of constipation, demographic characteristics, Female Sexual Function and Patient Assessment of Constipation Symptoms. Then, they will be randomly assigned to two groups of intervention and control using block randomization with block sizes of 4 and 6 and the allocation ratio of 1: 1. A person not involved in the sampling will generate allocation sequence.
Participants: Postmenopausal women ages 60-40 years old with chronic constipation according to the Rome 3 criteria.
Intervention: The intervention group will receive herbal mixture capsules (including Cloves, Anise, Fennel, Green Raisins, Manna, Violet, Yellow Hill, Senate and Gland) and the control group will receive placebo capsules. Both groups will take drug or placebo twice a day (before lunch and before dinner) every time two capsules for four weeks.
The main outcome variables include constipation and sexual activity that will be assessed by constipation questionnaire (weekly) and Female Sexual Function Index (before and 4 weeks after intervention), respectively. The secondary outcome variables include patient assessment of constipation symptom that will be assessed before, 2 and 4 weeks after intervention.