Effectiveness of Aromatherapy on Ameliorating Fatigue in Adults: A Meta-Analysis

Table 1

Characteristics of the included RCTs.

The characteristics of the included studies in the meta-analysis
Author (Year)	Country	Population characteristics	Age (y)	Sample Size (intervention/control)	Interventions		Aromatic type	Aromatic frequency	Dosage	Treatment duration	Outcome measurement
					Intervention group	Control group
Karadag E 2019	Turkey	Received hemodialysis treatment	18–65	30/30 60	2% lavender oil	Routine care	Inhalation	2 or 3 times a week	2 drops	30 days	Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS)
Sharare A 2019	Iran	Received hemodialysis treatment	18–65	30/30 60	Lavender essential oil	Placebo	Inhalation	3 or 4 times a week	5 drops	Unknown	Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS)
Bagheri-Nesami M 2016	Iran	Received hemodialysis treatment	≥18	29/30 59	5% lavender essential oil	Routine care	Inhalation	3 times a week	3 drops	4 weeks	Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS)
Kawabata N 2020	Japan	Diagnosed with advanced cancer	≥18	27/30 57	Mixture oils	Routine care	Massage	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI)
Hassanzadeh M 2018	Iran	Receiving hemodialysis treatment	20–65	35/35 70	a mixture of 5% lavender essential oil and sweet almond oil	Routine care	Inhalation	Twice a day	2 drops	4 weeks	Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI)
Genç F 2020	Turkey	The institutionalized elderly	≥65	30/29 59	3% lavender oil	Routine care	Inhalation	Once a day	2 drops	a month	Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS)
Demirba BC 2014	Turkey	Female patients with fibromyalgia	Unknown	54/54 108	Mixture oils	Routine care	Inhalation	Every other day	Unknown	6 weeks	Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS)
Gok Metin Z 2016	Turkey	Diagnosis of Rheumatoid arthritis	≥18	17/17 34	5% mixture oils	Routine care	Massage	3 times a week	20 drops	6 weeks	Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS)
Mohammadpourhodki R 2021	Iran	Receiving hemodialysis treatment	18–65	35/35 70	1.5% lavender essential oil	Massage	Massage	3 times a week	10 to 15 cubic centimeter	Unknown	Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS)
Shirzadegan R 2020	Iran	Diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction	18–60	40/40 80	Mixture oils	Placebo	Inhalation	Twice a day	3 drops	2 days	Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI)
Fariba Kabiri 2018	Iran	Diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis	40–60	31/31 62	Lavender oil	Routine care	Inhalation	Every other day	2 drops	one month	Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI)
Jessie Hawkins 2019	USA	Women diagnosed with hypothyroidism	18–55	21/20 41	Mixture oils	Placebo	Inhalation	Once a day	3 drops	2 weeks	Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory (MFSI)
Kyoko Asazawa 2018	Japan	Women in early postpartum period	Average 30	115/114 229	2% mixture oils	No application	Massage	Unknown	Unknown	1 session	Self-Diagnosis Checklist for Assessment of Worker’s Accumulated Fatigue
Hur M-H 2019	South Korea	Prediabetic women	40–65	31/31 62	3% mixture oils	Routine care	Massage	Once a day	20 drops	2 weeks	Numeric Rating Scale (NRS)
Xu 2020	China	Diagnosis of certain cancer	Unknown	49/49 98	Mixture oils	Routine care	Massage	2 times a week	1–4 drops	8 weeks	Fatigue Self-Assessment Scale (FSAS)
Vaziri F 2017	South Korea.	Women after normal vaginal delivery	18–35	29/27 56	Lavender oil	Placebo	Inhalation	6hours	5 drops	The first 24h after delivery	Visual Analog Scale (VAS)
Kim JO 2012	Korea.	Women in rural areas	Unknown	26/26 52	Mixture oils	Routine care	Massage	3 times a week	Unknown	6 weeks	Fatigue Assessment Instrument (FAI)
Varaei S 2020	Iran	Receiving hemodialysis treatment	Unknown	32/32 64	Mixture oils of lavender and sweet orange	Routine care	Inhalation	3 times a week	2 drops	8 weeks	Rhoten Fatigue Scale (RFS)
Abdollahi F 2020	Iran	Type 2 diabetic patients	30–65	30/30 60	Citrus(bitter orange)	Routine care	Inhalation	Once a day	8 drops	3 days	Visual Analog Scale (VAS)