Lavender aromatherapy on anxiety and depression in patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome: a single-blind randomized clinical trial
Article Category: Original Article
Published Online: Aug 03, 2022
Page range: 233 - 239
Received: Apr 30, 2021
Accepted: Jun 07, 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fon-2022-0022
Keywords
© 2022 Mohammad Nategh et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Objective
In cardiovascular disease, a patient's anxiety and depression can increase cardiac rehabilitation duration and recovery. Lavender aromatherapy as a non-pharmacological intervention effective in other contexts may be an efficient intervention to alleviating anxiety and depression in patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS).
Methods
In this study, 110 ACS patients were randomly assigned to two intervention and control groups. Inhalation of the lavender fragrance was prescribed for the intervention group and the drop of aromatic almond for the control group for 3 days.
Results
The first-day anxiety and depression were significantly different in the two groups at 1 h and 9 h after the intervention. The ’morning's difference before the intervention was not significant, but it was substantial 1 h after the intervention. On the third morning of the intervention, this difference was confirmed.
Conclusions
This study confirmed the effectiveness of lavender aromatherapy in reducing anxiety and depression in ACS patients. This ‘study's results enable intensive care nurses to use aromatherapy with lavender oil as a non-pharmacological and cost-effective intervention to reduce their psychological tensions and increase patient satisfaction during hospitalization in the cardiac care units (CCU).