The Effect of Inhalation Aromatherapy on Anxiety Level of the Patients Before Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery (CABG)

Many patients suffering from coronary artery diseases do not respond to pharmacological therapies. Therefore, they settle undergoing procedure of coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). In attention to the risks and complications in the heart surgery, anxiety is in the greater level. This study intended to investigate the effectiveness of inhalation aromatherapy on anxiety level of the patients before CABG.
In this clinical trial study sixty four patients volunteer for CABG were selected by convenience sampling, then divided in case and control groups equally. The case group patients inhaled 2 drops of lavender essential oil and the control group inhaled 2 drops of distilled water for 20 minutes. Patients’ anxiety and vital sign were measured before and after intervention in the control and test groups. For data collection, a questionnaire was used. This questionnaire included demographic characteristics, data related to the disease, Spielberger state anxiety inventory and recording of vital sign. The data were analyzed using independent t-test, paired t-test, chi-square and wilcoxon tests.
The mean of anxiety rate before intervention in the case group was 45.71±14.27 (Mean±SD) and after intervention decreased to 39.53 ± 9.28 (p=0.007), while this mean before intervention in the control group was 45.65 ± 10.79 and after intervention was 44.78 ± 9.65 (p=0.509). The difference between mean of anxiety before intervention in the two groups (p=0.984) was not significant but after intervention the difference was statistically significant (p=0.030).
Aromatherapy with lavender oil according to its positive effects may be used as a nursing intervention to reduce anxiety level in patients before CABG.