Aromatherapy in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery: A systematic review of clinical trials

Abstract

In recent years, various investigations have been conducted on the aromatherapy with some essential oils as a non-invasive nursing intervention in various conditions, such as the improvement of anxiety in patients with cardiovascular diseases. The current study aims to systematically review and determine the effects of aromatherapy with various herbs in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery. Five English databases, including Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, EMBASE, and Google Scholar, were used to find all published clinical papers related to the effects of aromatherapy on the patients with coronary artery bypass surgery without time limitation. All searches were based on the 06- PRISMA guideline and registered in the CAMARADES-NC3Rs Preclinical Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Facility (SyRF) database. Out of 1835 papers, 13 papers up to 2021, met the inclusion criteria for discussion in this systematic review with the data extracted. The most studies were carried out on effect of aromatherapy on anxiety of patients with coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery (8 papers, 61.5%). The most common used essential oil was belonged to lavender essential oil (11 papers, 84.6%). The findings of the present investigation demonstrated that aromatherapy particularly with lavender is able to significantly decrease anxiety, pain, nausea and vomiting, Sleep quality, Hemodynamic Indices, blood pressure, and extubation time in patients with CABG surgery. However, more studies are required to confirm the accurate mechanisms and side effects of the alternative treatment.