2010 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Study of short-and long-term effects of aromatherapy for stress-care during pregnancy

Research Project

Project/Area Number	20791750
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Lifelong developmental nursing
Research Institution	Meiji College of Oriental Medicine
Principal Investigator	IGARASHI Toshiko Meiji College of Oriental Medicine, 医学部・看護学科, 准教授 (50347473)
Project Period (FY)	2008 – 2010
Keywords	アロマセラピー / 酢酸リナリル / リナロール / 妊娠 / 妊婦 / 妊婦無作為比較試験 / ストレス
Research Abstract	We investigated short-and long-term effects during pregnancy with aromatherapy. We randomly assigned 16 healthy pregnant women into an aromatherapy group (9) and a control group (7). Intervention for the short-term effect, the results of the POMS were significant differences were observed in the Tension-Anxiety score (P < .05) and the Anger-Hostility score (P < .05). The results of the autonomic nervous system, the amount of activity of the parasympathetic nerve increased significantly (P<.05). Intervention for the long-term effect, the STAI trait showed significant aromatherapy effects (p<0.05) for reducing anxiety. Moreover, a dose-response relationship was observed which demonstrated a significant difference (p<0.016) within the aromatherapy group for the relaxing effects by VAS.