The Iranian Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Infertility

The Iranian Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Infertility

The effect of aromatherapy on quality of sleep in pre-post-menopausal women: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Document Type : Review Article

Authors
Mona Najaf Najafi 1
Salmeh Dadgar 2
Masumeh Ghazanfarpour 3
1 Assistant professor, Department of Socio-Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
2 Assistant Professor, Department of obstetrics and gynecology, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Science, Mashhad, Iran.
3 PhD in Reproductive Health, Razi School of Nursing and Midwifery, Kerman University of Medical Science, Kerman, Iran.
10.22038/ijogi.2018.11616
Abstract
Introduction: One of the most common problems in postmenopausal women is sleep disorders. This disorder can be manifested by mild to severe symptoms of discomfort in different people. One of the approaches to relieve sleep disorders is the use of complementary medicine, including aromatherapy. This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted with the aim to evaluate and summarize the results of clinical trials on the effects of aromatherapy in premenopausal and postmenopausal women with sleep disorders.
Methods: Latin databases such as PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Persian databases such as SID and magiran were systematically searched until 10 February 2018 without time limitation. The Jadad scale was used to evaluate the quality of the articles. Sleep duration or sleep quality was considered as the main outcome of the study.
Results: Among 4 found studies, Lavender essence was used for aromatherapy alone or in combination with other methods or fragrances. The results of the meta-analysis on three studies which had reported the quality of sleep showed that the standardized mean difference between intervention and control groups was 1.338 (95% CI: 0.329-2.347); this difference shows sleep quality score was improved in the intervention group compared to the control group (p = 0.009). In one study which had reported the sleep time of samples, there was no significant difference between intervention and control groups in sleep hours (p = 0.373).
Conclusion:Lavender essence aromatherapy alone or in combination with other methods can have beneficial effects on improving the sleep quality in pre and postmenopausal women
Keywords
Aromatherapy
Lavender
Pre-menopause
Sleep Disorders
  1. Frutos R, Rodriguez S, Miralles-Jorda L, Machuca G. Oral manifestations and dental treatment in menopause. Med Oral 2002; 7(1):26-30.
  2. Xu J, Bartoces M, Neale AV, Dailey RK, Northrup J, Schwartz KL. Natural history of menopause symptoms in primary care patients: a MetroNet study. J Am Board Fam Pract 2005; 18(5):374-82.
  3. Bahri N, Latifnejad Roudsari R, Azimi Hashemi M. Menopause research studies through passage of time: shifting from biomedical to holistic approaches. Iran J Obstet Gynecol Infertil 2015; 18(154):19-34. (Persian).
  4. Ghazanfarpour M, Kaviani M, Abdolahian S, Bonakchi H, Najmabadi Khadijeh M, Naghavi M, et al. The relationship between women’s attitude towards menopause and menopausal symptoms among postmenopausal women. Gynecol Endocrinol 2015; 31(11):860-5.
  5. Ghaderi E, Ghazanfarpour M, Kaviani M. Evaluation of menopausal women's attitudes towards menopause in Shiraz. Pak J Med Sci 2010; 26(3(:698-703.
  6. Statistical Center of Iran. Available at: URL: https://www.amar.org.ir; 2016. (Persian).
  7. Rajaeefard A, Mohammad-Beigi A, Mohammad-Salehi N. Estimation of natural age of menopause in Iranian women: a meta-analysis study. Koomesh 2011; 13(1):1-7. (Persian).
  8. Ghazanfarpour M, Mohammadzadeh F, Shokrollahi P, Khadivzadeh T, Najaf Najafi M, Hajirezaee H, et al. Effect of Foeniculum vulgare (fennel) on symptoms of depression and anxiety in postmenopausal women: a double-blind randomised controlled trial. J Obstet Gynaecol 2017; 38(1):121-6.
  9. Pazandeh F, Azar M, Ziaei T, Alavi Majd H. Survey on sexual satisfaction situation and some of affecting agents in postmenopausal women. ZUMS J 2010; 18(71):81-9.
  10. Taavoni S, Ekbatani N, Haghani H. Effect of Sedamin capsule on sleep disorder among menopausal women. J Gorgan Univ Med Sci 2012; 14(1):39-45. (Persian).
  11. Ancoli-Israel S. Sleep and its disorders in aging populations. Sleep Med 2009; 10:S7-11.
  12. Timur S, Sahin NH. Effects of sleep disturbance on the quality of life of Turkish menopausal women: a population-based study. Maturitas 2009; 64(3):177-81.
  13. Eichling PS, Sahni J. Menopause related sleep disorders. J Clin Sleep Med 2005; 1(3):291-300.
  14. Ameratunga D, Goldin J, Hickey M. Sleep disturbance in menopause. Intern Med J 2012; 42(7):742-7.
  15. Akhondzadeh S, Daliri-hampa A. Herbal medicine in sleep disorders. J Med Plants 2004; 1(9):75-84.
  16. Gholamalian F, Tadayon M, Abedi P, Haghighizadeh MH. The effect of lavender aromatherapy on sleep quality in postmenopausal women. Iran J Obstet Gynecol Infertil 2015; 18(157):18-25. (Persian).
  17. Chien LW, Cheng SL, Liu CF. The effect of lavender aromatherapy on autonomic nervous system in midlife women with insomnia. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2012; 2012:740813.
  18. Ju MS, Lee S, Bae I, Hur MH, Seong K, Lee MS. Effects of aroma massage on home blood pressure, ambulatory blood pressure, and sleep quality in middle-aged women with hypertension. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2013; 2013:403251.
  19. Choi SY, Kang P, Lee HS, Seol GH. Effects of inhalation of essential oil of Citrus aurantium L. var. amara on menopausal symptoms, stress, and estrogen in postmenopausal women: a randomized controlled trial. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2014; 2014:796518.
  20. Malacara JM, Pérez-Luque EL, Martı́nez-Garza S, Sánchez-Marı́n FJ. The relationship of estrogen receptor-α polymorphism with symptoms and other characteristics in post-menopausal women. Maturitas 2004; 49(2):163-9.
  21. Nelson HD. Postmenopausal estrogen for treatment of hot flashes: clinical applications. JAMA 2004; 291(13):1621-5.
  22. Malakouti J, Farshbaf Khalili A, Asghari Jafarabadi M, Jabbari F. Effect of combined inhaler aromatherapy on sexual function in postmenopausal women: a randomized controlled trial. Iran J Obstet Gynecol Infertil 2016; 19(1.2):9-15. (Persian).
  23. Mohammadkhani Shahri L, Abbaspoor Z, Aghel N, Mohammadkhani Shahri H. Effect of massage aromatherapy with lavender oil on pain intensity of active phase of labor in nulliparous women. J Med Plants 2012; 2(42):167-76.
  24. Jadad AR, Moore RA, Carroll D, Jenkinson C, Reynolds DJ, Gavaghan DJ, et al. Assessing the quality of reports of randomized clinical trials: is blinding necessary? Control Clin Trials 1996; 17(1):1-12.
  25. Choi N. The effects of hand massage using aroma essential oil and music therapy on anxiety and sleeping for elderly women in the sanatorium. Int J Bio Sci Bio Technol 2015; 7(5):151-8.
  26. Koulivand PH, Khaleghi Ghadiri M, Gorji A. Lavender and the nervous system. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2013; 2013:681304.
  27. Ali B, Al-Wabel NA, Shams S, Ahamad A, Khan SA, Anwar F. Essential oils used in aromatherapy: A systemic review. Asian Pacif J Trop Biomed 2015; 5(8):601-11.
  28. Hwang E, Shin S. The effects of aromatherapy on sleep improvement: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis. J Alternat Complement Med 2015; 21(2):61-8.
  29. Nikjou R, Kazemzadeh R, Asadzadeh F, Fathi R, Mostafazadeh F. The effect of lavender aromatherapy on the symptoms of menopause. J Natl Med Assoc 2017; 110(3):265-9.
  30. Lotfipur-Rafsanjani SM, Vaziri-Nejad R, Ismailzadeh S, Ansari-Jaberi A, Bekhradi R, Ravari A, et al. Comparison of the efficacy of massage therapy and aromatherapy massage with geranium on depression in postmenopausal women: a clinical trial. Res Med Sci 2015; 17(4):29-33.
  31. Kazemzadeh R, Nikjou R, Rostamnegad M, Norouzi H. Effect of lavender aromatherapy on menopause hot flushing: a crossover randomized clinical trial. J Chin Med Assoc 2016; 79(9):489-92.
The Iranian Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Infertility
Volume 21, Supplement
September 2018
Pages 1-9