The Effects of Aromatherapy on Premenstrual Syndrome Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials.

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a common disturbance among women of childbearing age. Aromatherapy is a commonly used form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to treat PMS. The purpose of this study is to quantify and summarize the effects of aromatherapy on premenstrual syndrome symptoms. . PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane Library databases were searched through relevant search terms until October 2020. The effect sizes were pooled as weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) using the random effect model. Egger tests and visual inspection of the funnel plot were performed to identify the existence of publication bias. The -squared ( ) test was applied to measure heterogeneity. . Eight studies ( = 8) were included in this analysis. The quantitative synthesis of evidence found that aromatherapy decreases PMS scores (WMD -13.83; 95% CI (-22.04, -5.63),  = 94.5%), total psychological symptoms of PMS (WMD -3.51; 95% CI (-4.84, -2.18),  = 82.6%), anxiety of PMS (WMD-1.78; 95% CI (-3.17, -0.38),  = 94.2%), depression of PMS (WMD-2.0; 95% CI (-3.65, -0.34),  = 93.7%), and fatigue of PMS (WMD - 1.44; 95% CI (-2.44, -0.44),  = 89.7%) compared to the control group. . Aromatherapy is an effective tool for the relief of PMS symptoms. Additional randomized controlled clinical trials with different durations and essential oils should be conducted to confirm our findings.