The effect of Aromatherapy on Pain, Itching, State Anxiety Levels and Respiratory Distress in Children with Burns: A Systematic Review

Background: Search of the literature reveals that there is no published systematic review on the effect of aromatherapy therapy on the pediatric and adolescent burns. For this reason, we conducted a systematic review to inspect the effects of massage therapy on reducing pain, itching, and anxiety levels in children with burns. Materials and Methods: In this systematic review, English databases such as Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, EMBASE and Cochrane Library, no time limitation were conducted from inception until February ۲۰۱۹. Results: Three studies evaluated the effect of aromatherapy in pediatric burn patients Results: In the first study, massage therapy with Johnson's Baby Bedtime Oil decreased significantly all the pain, itching, and anxiety level of adolescents in a burn unit (p < ۰.۰۰۱). In the second study, ۲۸۴ children were massaged with aromatherapy in a burns ward, no significant difference were observed in terms of comfort behavior scores (p=۰.۱۸), or heart rates (p=۰.۱۸) among the groups’ oil. The third study was conducted on ۷۱ pediatric burn patients, aromatherapy significantly decreased the pain, itching, and anxiety level (p <۰.۰۰۱). Heart rate showed a significant decrease from ۱۱۸ to ۱۰۹ and respiratory rate decreased significantly from ۳۴ to ۳۰, p Conclusion: Inhalation with essential oils can improve the pain, itching, state anxiety, respiration, the child's falling asleep, and the calmness in the pediatric burn patients. This method of treatment can be beneficial and the findings of these studies should be interpreted with caution due to the high heterogeneity between the studies, the small number of studies and small sample sizes.

کلیدواژه ها:

Aromatherapy ، Anxiety ، Burns ، Children ، Pain