A Controlled Trial of Aromatherapy for Agitation in Nursing Home Patients with Dementia

Abstract

There is significant evidence in the neurologic and neuropsychologic literature that persons with dementia have impaired olfactory abilities. Concordant with this literature, this study found no support for the use of a purely olfactory form of aromatherapy to decrease agitation in severely demented patients. Cutaneous application of the essential oil may be necessary to achieve the effects reported in previous controlled studies.

The use of aromatherapy to treat behavioural problems in dementia

“…This included validated quantitative scales for symptoms of agitation (Ballard et al, 2002;Holmes et al, 2002;Snow et al, 2004;Lin et al, 2007), other quantitative measures such as duration of sleep (Henry et al, 1994) or time to administer medicines (Gray and Clair, 2002), to qualitative measures such as the opinions of family carers and staff obtained through focus groups and logbooks (Kilstoff and Chenoweth, 1998). There was no clear relationship between the type of measure used and study outcomes.…”

“…For example, Burleigh and Armstrong (1997) and Mitchell (1993) did not use any statistical analysis despite collecting quantitative data and Snow et al (2004) employed complex statistical techniques to analyse data for seven patients. It was often not clear what steps, if any, had been taken to blind raters to treatment allocation and the use of many different raters without addressing issues around inter-rater reliability was common.…”

“…Given the fact that anosmia is common in people with dementia, it remains unclear whether the method of administration influences response. Only one study (Snow et al, 2004, n ¼ 7) tested olfactory functioning. Identification of different oils, differentiation of smells and participant reactions to particular smells was assessed.…”

A aromaterapia científica na visão psiconeuroendocrinoimunológica: um panorama atual da aromaterapia clínica e científica no mundo e da psiconeuroendocrinoimunologia

“…Os efeitos antioxidantes dos óleos essenciais são importantes por possivelmente melhorar funções cognitivas como melhora da memória e retardo de perdas cognitivas em casos de demência e Alzheimer, nos quais há um efeito deletério pela ação de radicais livres a longo prazo, que também ocorre no processo de envelhecimento (BALLARD et al, 2002;SNOW;HOVANEC;BRANDT, 2004;.KENNEDY;SCHOLEY, 2006). Assim como por causar diminuição de agitação, stress psicológico e ansiedade estado, associado a melhora de humor e aumento do nível de calma (ATMACA et al, 2004;HWANG et al, 2006).…”

“…• Ainda temos que destacar novamente os efeitos antioxidantes, que atuam em diversos sistemas de uma forma integral: melhorando funções cognitivas e memória no sistema nervoso (BALLARD et al, 2002;SNOW;HOVANEC;BRANDT, 2004;.KENNEDY;SCHOLEY, 2006), diminuindo agitação, stress psicológico e ansiedade estado, associado a melhora de humor e aumento do nível de calma (ATMACA et al, 2004;HWANG et al, 2006) e ainda melhorando a resposta imune que é suprimida pelos radicais livres.…”