Choi Jiae, Lee Ju Ah, Alimoradi Zainab, Lee Myeong Soo
Clinical Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea.
Department of Korean Internal Medicine, College of Korean Medicine, Gacheon University, Incheon, South Korea.
Burns. 2018 Sep;44(6):1395-1402. doi: 10.1016/j.burns.2017.10.009. Epub 2017 Nov 21.
Aromatherapy is often used to manage several conditions, including pain, psychological distress, and burn-related symptoms. The objective of this review was to assess the current evidence regarding the efficacy of aromatherapy as a treatment for burn wounds.
The following fifteen databases and trial registries were searched for studies published between their dates of inception and January 2017: AMED, CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), as well as six Korean medical databases and four Iranian databases. All the trials included in the review were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the efficacy any type of aromatherapy as a treatment for burn-related symptoms. Study selection and data extraction were performed by two independent reviewers, and the risk of bias (ROB) in the trials included in the review was assessed using the Cochrane ROB assessment tool.
Four RCTs met our inclusion criteria, including two RCTs comparing the efficacy of aroma inhalation as a treatment for pain and anxiety with that of placebo controls. Both studies showed that aroma inhalation was superior to placebo with respect to relieving pain and anxiety. The third study compared the effects of aroma inhalation on sleep quality with those of music therapy and showed that two the treatments exert equivalent effects on the above parameter, and the fourth trial compared the ability of aroma inhalation to reduce pain and anxiety with that of no treatment. The results showed that aroma inhalation can reduce pain but not anxiety.
The evidence from the above trials is not sufficient to conclude that aromatherapy effectively relieves symptoms in patients with burns. However, the findings of the trials do not seem very plausible, and the trials themselves were of low quality and included only small numbers of patients. Studies that are adequately powered and feature better designs are needed to investigate the potential mechanisms underlying the effects of aroma therapy on pain and anxiety.
芳香疗法常用于治疗多种病症，包括疼痛、心理困扰及烧伤相关症状。本综述的目的是评估关于芳香疗法治疗烧伤创面疗效的现有证据。
检索了以下15个数据库和试验注册库，以查找在其创建日期至2017年1月期间发表的研究：医学文摘数据库（AMED）、护理学与健康领域数据库（CINAHL）、荷兰医学文摘数据库（EMBASE）、医学期刊数据库（MEDLINE）以及Cochrane对照试验中心注册库（CENTRAL），还有六个韩国医学数据库和四个伊朗数据库。纳入本综述的所有试验均为随机对照试验（RCT），评估任何类型的芳香疗法作为治疗烧伤相关症状的疗效。研究选择和数据提取由两名独立的评审员进行，使用Cochrane偏倚风险（ROB）评估工具评估纳入综述的试验中的偏倚风险。
四项RCT符合我们的纳入标准，其中两项RCT比较了芳香吸入作为疼痛和焦虑治疗方法与安慰剂对照的疗效。两项研究均表明，在缓解疼痛和焦虑方面，芳香吸入优于安慰剂。第三项研究比较了芳香吸入与音乐疗法对睡眠质量的影响，结果表明两种疗法对上述参数产生同等效果，第四项试验比较了芳香吸入与不治疗减轻疼痛和焦虑的能力。结果显示，芳香吸入可减轻疼痛，但不能减轻焦虑。
上述试验的证据不足以得出芳香疗法能有效缓解烧伤患者症状的结论。然而，试验结果似乎不太可信，而且试验本身质量较低，纳入的患者数量也较少。需要进行有足够效力且设计更好的研究，以探究芳香疗法对疼痛和焦虑影响的潜在机制。
