Aromatherapy for Laboring Women: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Abstract

Aromatherapy is the therapeutic use of oil from herbs, flowers, and other plants. The aim of this meta-analysis was to quantify the effectiveness of aromatherapy for laboring women. We searched five electronic databases till November 15th 2013 including those Chinese and English language articles. A total of 4 eligible studies were identified. Aromatherapy was effective in reducing the length of labor, but there were no statistically significant effects in the use of pharmacological analgesia, spontaneous vaginal delivery, caesarean delivery and assisted vaginal birth. Due to the limited number of articles identified, the evidence is not sufficiently convincing that aromatherapy is an effective therapy for laboring women.