Effectiveness of Aromateraphy as an Intervention for Dysmenorrhea: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Dysmenorrhea is not a disease, but it is a common problem that makes adolescent and adult women feel uncomfortable during menstruation which this can interfere with their daily life activities.  Aromatherapy using essential oils has been commonly used for reduction of stress and anxiety and pain management.  A systematic review was conducted on a publication from December 2012 to January 2018 in the International and Indonesian databases. The search terms used were aromatherapy or aroma and Dysmenorrhea or menstrual pain. Research was performed using Science Direct, Google Scholar, and ProQuest.  A total of 20 articles were reviewed and analyzed for this study.   A total of 20 studies showed that aromatherapy is significantly effective in reducing and eliminating dysmenorrhea, where this nonpharmacological aromatherapy massage and inhalations were found to be more effective in reducing dysmenorrhea than placebo massage. Analysis showed that aromatherapy intervention methods using essential oils (lavender, clary sage, rose, jasmine, ginger) can significantly reduce primary dysmenorrhea.