Effectiveness of aromatherapy massage in the management of anxiety and depression in patients with cancer: a multicenter randomized controlled trial.
OBJECTIVE
To test the effectiveness of supplementing usual supportive care with aromatherapy massage in the management of anxiety and depression in cancer patients through a pragmatic two-arm randomized controlled trial in four United Kingdom cancer centers and a hospice.


METHODS
Two hundred eighty-eight cancer patients, referred to complementary therapy services with clinical anxiety and/or depression, were allocated randomly to a course of aromatherapy massage or usual supportive care alone.


RESULTS
Patients who received aromatherapy massage had no significant improvement in clinical anxiety and/or depression compared with those receiving usual care at 10 weeks postrandomization (odds ratio [OR], 1.3; 95% CI, 0.9 to 1.7; P = .1), but did at 6 weeks postrandomization (OR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.1 to 1.9; P = .01). Patients receiving aromatherapy massage also described greater improvement in self-reported anxiety at both 6 and 10 weeks postrandomization (OR, 3.4; 95% CI, 0.2 to 6.7; P = .04 and OR, 3.4; 95% CI, 0.2 to 6.6; P = .04), respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Aromatherapy massage does not appear to confer benefit on cancer patients' anxiety and/or depression in the long-term, but is associated with clinically important benefit up to 2 weeks after the intervention.
Wilkinson
Susie M
SM
Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Unit, Royal Free and University College Medical School, Department of Mental Health Sciences, Cancer Research UK London Psychosocial Group, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom.
Love
Sharon B
SB
Westcombe
Alex M
AM
Gambles
Maureen A
MA
Burgess
Caroline C
CC
Cargill
Anna
A
Young
Teresa
T
Maher
E Jane
EJ
Ramirez
Amanda J
AJ
D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D019341:Aromatherapy; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008405:Massage; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011788:Quality of Life; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D006113:United Kingdom
D009822:Oils, Volatile