The effect of a natural vaginal product based on honey on the success of intrauterine insemination (IUI) in infertility treatment

OBJECTIVE: Due to high prevalence of infertility and increasing tendency towards complementary medicine, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of a vaginal natural product based on honey and 1% extract of Myristica fragrans on the extent of success of intrauterine insemination (IUI). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This non-randomized clinical trial study with a historic control group, was performed on infertile women. In this trial, 159 patients were assigned to the intervention group, and 288 patients were recruited to the control group. All the participants received clomiphene or letrozole from the third up to seventh day of menstruation, and on days 6, 7, and 8, they received human menopausal gonadotrophin (HMG) injections. IUI was performed 36 hours after human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) injection. In the intervention group, a natural vaginal product was used besides the above treatments, from menstruation day 7 until the day before performing IUI. Sixteen days after IUI, serum beta HCG was measured to investigate chemical pregnancy, and six weeks following IUI, vaginal sonography was performed to investigate clinical pregnancy. RESULTS: Analysis showed that the pregnancy rate was higher in the group that receiving the natural product compared to the control group. Chemical pregnancy rate was 18.1% vs. 15.4%, and clinical pregnancy rate was 15.2% vs. 13.8% for intervention and control groups, respectively; but, this difference was not significant. CONCLUSION: It seems that the use of this vaginal product for a longer period of time and across several menses cycles before IUI, may produce more positive results. Further studies, however, are needed to be done.