Abstract
Objective
To determine whether aromatherapy with lavender oil is effective in the treatment of agitated behaviour in patients with severe dementia.
Design
A placebo controlled trial with blinded observer rater.
Setting
A long‐stay psychogeriatric ward.
Patients
Fifteen patients meeting ICD‐10 diagnostic criteria for severe dementia and suffering from agitated behaviour defined as a minimum score of three points on the Pittsburgh Agitation Scale (PAS).
Intervention
A 2% lavender oil aromatherapy stream was administered on the ward for a two hour period alternated with placebo (water) every other day for a total of ten treatment sessions.
Assessments
For each subject 10 total PAS scores were obtained. Five during treatment and five during placebo periods.
Results
Nine patients (60%) showed an improvement, five (33%) showed no change and one patient (7%) showed a worsening of agitated behaviour during aromatherapy compared with placebo. A comparison of the group median PAS scores during aromatherapy showed a significant improvement in agitated behaviour during aromatherapy compared with placebo (median PAS scores 3 c.f. 4; Wilcoxon Signed‐Ranks test p = 0.016 (one‐tailed)).
Conclusions
Lavender oil administered in an aroma stream shows modest efficacy in the treatment of agitated behaviour in patients with severe dementia. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.