Objective To observe the therapeutic effect of moxibustion on primary dysmenorrhea due to damp- cold retention. Methods Eighty cases with primary dysmenorrhea due to damp-cold retention were randomly divided into a moxibustion group （40 cases） and a medication group （40 cases）. Moxibustion at Guonyudn （关元 CV 4） and Shiqizhui （十七椎 EX-B 8） was adopted for treatment of the moxibustion group a week before the period, which lasted for 10 days as a treatment course. Fenbid was used as oral administration for three continue menstrual periods for the medication group. The treatment lasted for 3 menstrual periods in two groups. The Cox Menstrual Symptom Scale （CMSS） was adopted to grade the menstrual symptoms, and differences between the two groups were compared. Results The total effective rate of the moxibustion group was 97.5% （39/40）, and the total effective rate of the medication group was 72.5% （29/40）. The effect of the moxibustion group was obviously better than the medication group （P〈0.05）. Before and after treatment the menstrual symptom scores of the moxibustion group were 9.78±1.86 and 2.25±3.33, while the medication group were 9.71±1.64 and 5.31±4.26. The scores of both groups decreased obviously after treatments. And the decreased amplitude of the moxibustion group was much more obvious than that of the medication group （P〈0.05）. Conclusion The effect of moxibustion on primary dysmenorrhea due to damp-cold retention is obvious, which is better than Fenbid.
