Effects of Aromatherapy on Physical and Mental Health of Cancer Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy and/or Chemotherapy: A Meta-Analysis.

Backgroup: Currently, aromatherapy is being increasingly utilized in clinical practice, particularly in managing the side effects associated with radiotherapy and chemoradiotherapy. However, it remains to be established whether aromatherapy can effectively alleviate these symptoms.

Objective: To investigate the effects of aromatherapy on the physical and mental health of patients with cancer undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Methods: Seven databases were researched from inception until September 29, 2023, including PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang database, China Biology Medicine disc and VIP Chinese Medical Journal Database. Review Manager version 5.3 was utilized for data analysis. The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool RoB2 was employed to evaluate the quality of the literature included in the study. Evidence quality rating was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach through the GRADEpro GDT online tool.

Results: Nineteen studies involving 1,541 patients were included. Aromatherapy can alleviate nausea [relative risk (RR)=0.64, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.53 to 0.78, P<0.05, I=46%; standardized mean difference (SMD)=-0.86, 95% CI: -1.21 to -0.51, P<0.05, I=64%] and vomiting (RR=0.54, 95% CI: 0.42 to 0.69, P<0.05, I=35%; SMD=-1.28, 95% CI: -1.52 to -1.03, P<0.05, I=92%), improve sleep disorders [mean difference (MD)=-3.39, 95% CI: -3.95 to -2.84, P<0.05, I=0%], relieve pain (SMD=-1.58, 95% CI: -1.96 to -1.21, P<0.05, I=0%), mitigate fatigue (SMD=-1.28, 95% CI: -2.44 to -0.11, P<0.05, I=93%) and enhance quality of life (SMD=0.50, 95% CI: 0.22 to 0.79, P<0.05, I=0%) in cancer patients after radiotherapy and chemotherapy, but it may not have a significant effect on anxiety. The risk of bias was high in the included studies using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool RoB2, and no studies were considered to be of high grade according to the GRADE system.

Conclusions: Aromatherapy is an efficacious, safe and economic adjunctive therapy for cancer patients, which can mend the physical symptoms and mental health of cancer patients. However, more high-quality studies are needed to verify it. (PROSPERO registration No. CRD42023390171).