Iranian Journal of Rehabilitation Research in Nursing

Introduction: Anxiety after surgery is a common mental distress that disrupts the body's physiological function and can endanger the patient's health. Aromatherapy is a branch of medicine that may reduce anxiety. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of aromatherapy with essential oil of lemon on anxiety after orthopedic surgery.

Methods: This study was a randomized controlled clinical trial, performed on 82 patients with distal Radius Fracture who referred to hospitals affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in 2015. The patients were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. To measure the rate of anxiety, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used. In the intervention group, the patients were asked to inhale the lemon essential oil smeared on a piece of cloth (three drops of oil) for 30 minutes. Patient’s anxiety before surgery, as well as 8 and 16 hours after the surgery were measured. Data analysis was performed by SPSS software version 16 using descriptive and inferential tests.

Results: The samples were homogeneous for age, gender, education and marital status. Before the intervention, there was no significant difference between the intervention and control subjects, but after the intervention, the anxiety score in the intervention group in the 8 hours (P = 0.03) and 16 hours (P = 0.001) after surgery was significantly reduced compared with the control group.

Conclusions: Aromatherapy with essential oil of lemon can relieve anxiety after surgery in patients with fractures. This method is recommended as a complementary method to relieve anxiety in orthopedic surgeries.