Abstract
Background: Dysmenorrhea is a significant issue among young people today due to its negative impact on quality of life during menstruation. Dysmenorrhea is classified into two types: primary and secondary dysmenorrhea. In recent years, auricular acupuncture has shown promising potential in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea.
Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of auricular acupuncture in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea among female students at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University.
Materials and Methods: This was a clinical interventional study without a control group, comparing changes in VAS, RSS-Cox, and EQ-5D-5L scores before and after auricular acupuncture intervention. The study was conducted on 33 female students from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University, who were diagnosed with primary dysmenorrhea.
Results: Auricular acupuncture significantly reduced the average VAS pain score from 6.55±1.37 to 3.36±1.72 (p <0.001). There was a marked improvement in the mean frequency score of RSS-Cox 1, with an improvement score of 7.67±3.36 (p <0.05), and in the severity score of RSS-Cox 2, with an improvement of 8.39±6.30 (p <0.05), indicating alleviation of dysmenorrhea symptoms according to the RSS-Cox retrospective symptom scale. The mean quality of life score (EQ-5D-5L) increased from 0.63±0.18 before the intervention to 0.78±0.22 after the intervention (p <0.05).
Conclusion: These findings suggest that auricular acupuncture is an effective therapeutic approach for female students with primary dysmenorrhea, leading to significant reductions in pain intensity, frequency, and severity of symptoms, thereby improving their quality of life during menstrual periods.
| Published | 2026-09-28 | |
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| Issue | Vol. 16 No. 5 (2026) | |
| Section | Original Articles | |
| DOI | 10.34071/jmp.2026.5.584 | |
| Keywords | Dysmenorrhea, Auricular Acupuncture Thống kinh, Nhĩ châm |

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2026 Hue Journal of Medicine and Pharmacy
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