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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| The use of aromatherapy to treat behavioural problems in dementia | | Author(s) | Quynh-anh Nguyen, Carol Paton |
| Journal title | International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 23, no 4, April 2008 |
| Pages | pp 337-346 |
| Source | http://www.interscience.wiley.com |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Behaviour disorders ; Alternative medicine ; Clinical surveys ; Literature reviews. |
| Annotation | Behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia (BPSD) are common and distressing to both patients and carers. The use of antipsychotics to treat BPSD is associated with deleterious side-effects, and alternative strategies are required. Aromatherapy is an option that has been recommended for use with dementia. The authors searched Medline, Cochrane and EMBASE for this review of evidence supporting the use of aromatherapy and BPSD. 11 prospective randomised studies of aromatherapy in BPSD were identified. The aromatherapy oils tested, methods of administration, and outcome measures used varied widely across the studies. Most of the studies included very small numbers of patients and were designed in such a way that made interpretation of the findings difficult. Data supporting the efficacy of aromatherapy are scarce, and the studies available reported positive and negative consequences for both people with dementia and their carers. The side-effect profile of commonly used oils is virtually unexplored. Although a potentially useful treatment for BPSD, the expectations of clinicians and patients with respect to the efficacy and tolerability of conventional medicines should equally apply to aromatherapy. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-080430207 A |
| Classmark | EA: EP: LK3: 3G: 64A |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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