Journal of Reproduction & Infertility

Journal of Reproduction & Infertility

Effect of Aromatherapy with Peppermint Oil on the Severity of Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy: A Single-blind, Randomized, Placebo-controlled trial

Authors
Narges Joulaeerad 1
Giti Ozgoli 2
Homa Hajimehdipoor 3
Erfan Ghasemi 4
Fatemeh Salehimoghaddam 1
1 Student Research Committee, Department of Midwifery and Reproductive Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
2 Midwifery and Reproductive Health Research Center, Department of Midwifery and Reproductive Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
3 Traditional Medicine and Materia Medica Research Center and Department of Traditional Pharmacy, School of Traditional Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
4 Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Paramedical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Background: Nausea and vomiting are common complaints in the first half of pregnancy. These symptoms can significantly affect a person's personal and professional life. Aromatherapy is one of the types of complementary medicine that is used in the treatment of nausea and vomiting. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of aromatherapy with peppermint oil on the severity of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP). Methods: This was a single-blind clinical trial that was conducted on 56 pregnant women with mild to moderate severity of NVP and 6 to 20 weeks of gestational age. After the determination of gestational age and base severity of NVP in each woman, they were randomly assigned to one of the two groups: peppermint oil (n=28) or placebo (n=28). Inhalation aromatherapy was done for four days and at the end of each day,they responded to the Pregnancy Unique Quantification of Emesis/Nausea questionnaire (PUQE). The data obtained were analyzed with Mann-Whitney test and ANOVA with repeated measures using SPSS software version 22. Also, the level of significance was p<0.05. Results: Although the severity of NVP in each intervention group significantly decreased (p<0.001), the comparison of the severity of NVP during the study period and at the end of it was not statistically significant between the placebo and intervention groups. Conclusion: According to the possibility of neurological mechanisms causing NVP, the effect of aromatherapy with peppermint oil and placebo were the same in this study. This similarity can be due to psychological impacts of intervention on pregnant women.
Keywords
Mentha piperita
aromatherapy
Inhalation
Nausea
Pregnancy
Vomiting
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Journal of Reproduction & Infertility
Volume 19, Issue 1
Winter 2018
Pages 32-38