Aromatherapy for Managing Menopausal Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trials.

Abstract

Background: Aromatherapy is widely used in women's health as a complementary therapy. Objective: This review aimed to critically evaluate clinical evidence of the effectiveness of aromatherapy in managing menopausal symptoms. Design: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: A total of 11 electronic databases were searched up to November 5, 2020. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating any type of aromatherapy against placebo in menopausal individuals were eligible. Two authors independently assessed the study eligibility and risk of bias as well as extracted the data for each study. Cochrane risk of bias tool was used to evaluate the methodological quality of each included studies. No ethical approval was required for this manuscript as this study did not involve human subjects or laboratory animals. Results: Seven RCTs met our inclusion criteria and were analyzed. Most of the included RCTs had low risk of bias in most domains except for blinding. Four studies tested the efficacy of aromatherapy for menopausal symptoms. The results showed that aromatherapy (lavender or low dose of neroli) inhalation had superior effects on reducing the total menopausal symptom score compared with the placebo. One study presented that aromatherapy massage with mixed oils reduced menopausal symptoms. Three studies investigated the effects of aromatherapy inhalation on sexual desire, and all of the studies showed that aromatherapy inhalation (lavender or low dose of neroli or mixed oils) had superior effects compared with the placebo. Conclusion: This review indicates limited evidence of the benefit of aromatherapy (lavender or low dose of neroli) in improving total menopausal symptoms and sexual desire. Further studies are highly warranted to validate the findings.