The Effect of Orange Blossom Aromatherapy on the Physiological Parameters and Anxiety of Patients undergoing angiography

Invasive diagnostic tests such as angiography cause stress and anxiety in patient and most of them experience relatively high levels of anxiety.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of aromatherapy on anxety and physiologic parameters of patients undergoing angiography.

This clinical trial was performed in the angiography department of Heshmat hospital in north of Iran. Eighty patients with anxiety score of above 43 were randomly assigned into two groups of aromatherapy and placebo groups. Fifteen minutes Before and then angiography, the physiologic parameter and anxiety of the patients were measured, and the intervention group sniffed three drops of essential oil of orange blossom for three minutes.

In the intervention group, there was no significant difference between the mean score of the manifest and hidden anxiety and the physiological indices before and after the intervention. The adjusted post-intervention values showed that systolic and diastolic blood pressure in the control group were significantly lower than intervention group (P<0.001). The mean reduction of systolic blood pressure in the intervention and control group was 3% and 13%, respectively. The mean diastolic blood pressure reduction was  2% vs 7% in the intervention and control group, respectively.

 This study revealed no significant effect of aromatherapy on anxiety of the patients undergoing angiography. Among physiologic parameter, systolic and diastolic blood pressure significantly reduced after intervention.