Antihypertension Activity of Cymbopogon nardus (L.) Rendle as an Aromatherapy Candle Material at Community Health Center Kapuk II West Jakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

The utilization of natural materials is likely to increase nowadays, including for aromatherapy purposes. In this research, aromatherapy candle had been made from the volatile oil of Cymbopogon nardus (L.) Rendle (citronella grass). The aims of this research is to observe the influence of aromatherapy candle containing citronella grass oil toward the blood pressure of hypertension patients at Community Health Center Kapuk II Jakarta, Indonesia. This research used pre-experiment design with one group pretest-posttest design. The population was elderly who had high blood pressure. A sample of 43 peoples were obtained by simple random sampling technique. Data analysis was done by t-dependent test (paired t-Test) with significance value α = 0,05. The result of paired t-Test from pretest and posttest of systole blood pressure was obtained with P value 0,000 and paired t-test from pretest and posttest of diastolic blood pressure was obtained with P value 0,012. It can be concluded that there was an influence of aromatherapy candles of Cymbopogon nardus (L) Rendle toward lowering blood pressure in hypertension patient at Puskesmas Kapuk II Jakarta Indonesia.