The effects of Lamiaceae plants on sex hormone levels and clinical signs in women with hirsutism: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this systematic review was to reach a general conclusion regarding the effects of Lamiaceae plants on hirsutism by performing a meta-analysis of the clinical trials. PubMed, Cochrane Library, Scopus Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases were searched and selected from the results of clinical studies to evaluate the effect of Lamiaceae plants on hirsutism. Three clinical studies were selected for meta-analysis. In the performed meta-analysis, changes in androgenic hormones levels were non-significant for total testosterone (TT) (SMD = -0.03; 95% CI [-0.68, 0.08]; P= 0.12) and significant for free testosterone (FT) (SMD = -0.85; 95% CI [-1.45, -0.25]; P= 0.005). On the other hand, FSH level did not reduce (SMD = -0.39; 95% CI [-1.83, 1.06]; P= 0.60), while LH showed a marginally significant increase (SMD = 0.37; 95% CI [-0.007, 0.75]; P= 0.055). Ferriman – Gallway score did not show a remarkable change based on the meta-analysis of two studies (SMD = 0.89; 95% CI [-0.73, 2.51]; P= 0.28). The results showed that the Lamiaceae family can reduce serum levels of some hormones and signs of hirsutism. However, they do not change signs of hirsutism.