Investigating the Effect of " Citrus Aurantium" Aroma on Sleep Quality of Patients Hospitalized in the Coronary Care Unit (CCU)

Sleep disorders and intermittent hypoxia leads to an increase in the development of cardiovascular complications. Aromatherapy brings about the release of endorphins in the brain resulting a feeling of well-being. Citrus Aurantium is known as a relaxant plant and sleep booster. The aim of the present study is to determine the scented effects of “Citrus Aurantium” on the sleep quality of the patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases. This research is a clinical trial with a control group with Pre- and post-test. The patients hospitalized in Coronary Care Units were randomly divided into control and intervention groups based on the entrance criteria. A romatherapy has been carried out through using the essence of “Citrus Aurantium” 10%، and placebo carried out for three successive nights. In order to check the last night’s sleep quality out، especially in terms of the pre-and post-sleep effects، the Hospital Sleep Questionnaire was filled out in both trial groups. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS 20 software، Chi 2 Correlation Test، U Mann–Whitney، T-test، and Wilcoxon signed-rank test was interpreted as well. Participants were divided into two 30-person group having no background meaningful differences (p > 0. 05). The effect of Aromatherapy by the use of Citrus aurantium essence on the quality of hospital sleep was meaningful through using statistic measurements. The sleep quality had a meaningful difference between the two groups in case of the patient’s last night’s sleep condition، the number of times the patient would get out of bed during the night and the time needed to go back to sleep again (p<0/05). However، it had a meaningful effect on the initiating time to sleep، the sleep longevity and sleep again after a period of being awake. Aromatherapy by the use of essence of Citrus aurantium can be used as a helpful remedy for sleep disorders in heart patients.