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Does addition of aromatherapy and music help to reduce pain and anxiety during shockwave lithotripsy compared to standard analgesia alone? A randomised controlled trial

  • Urology - Original Paper
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Abstract

Purpose

To assess the effect of aromatherapy with lavender oil alone, and in combination with music, on pain and anxiety during extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy for kidney stones.

Methods

This was a single-centre prospective, randomised controlled trial. The subjects were block randomised into 3 study groups, Group 1: Control; Group 2: Aromatherapy only; Group 3: Aromatherapy and music. All subjects were given patient-controlled intravenous alfentanil as standard analgesia. The primary outcome measures were pain and anxiety scores using visual analogue scale (VAS) and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory.

Results

Ninety patients were recruited and randomised prospectively into Group 1 (n = 30), Group 2 (n = 30), and Group 3 (n = 30). For pain outcome, both Group 2 and Group 3 showed a trend towards lower mean VAS pain scores of 2.73 in both groups compared to the control with a mean VAS score of 3.50, but it was not statistically significant (p = 0.272). There was no significant difference in anxiety scores between groups post-treatment.

Conclusions

Our study was unable to show a significant improvement in pain relief and anxiety when aromatherapy with lavender oil was added to standard analgesia alone during shockwave lithotripsy. There was also no difference when aromatherapy was combined with music.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to personal data protection act but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

CI:

Confidence interval

ESWL:

Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy

IV:

Intravenous

SD:

Standard deviation

STAI:

State-trait anxiety inventory

STAI-S:

‘State’ component of State-Trait Anxiety Inventory

STAI-T:

‘Trait’ component of State-Trait Anxiety Inventory

VAS:

Visual analogue scale

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the nurses in National University Hospital Urology Centre; Toh Poh Choo, Elmira Franco, Zhang Shuang, Norredha Bte Kahar, Guo Huihui, Martin Beaula, Wang Yao, Bai Rui Juan, and Peche Ballori. Without their assistance in the conduct of this trial, this manuscript would not have been possible.

Funding

Authors did not receive any funding for this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, National University Hospital, National University Health System, 1E Kent Ridge Road, NUHS Tower Block, Level 8, Singapore, 119228, Singapore

    Yu Xi Terence Law, Arshvin Kesavan, Wayren Loke, Wei Jin Chua, Ho Yee Tiong & Wei Jing Kelven Chen

  2. Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore and National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore

    Bee Choo Tai

  3. Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore and National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore

    Bee Choo Tai

  4. Biostatistics Unit, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Liang Shen

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  1. Yu Xi Terence Law
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Contributions

All authors have contributed significantly, and all authors are in agreement with the content of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yu Xi Terence Law.

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Conflict of interest

The authors also declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The protocol for this research project has been approved by our institutional ethical review board and it conforms to the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki, under Approval No. NHG DSRB 2017/00260.

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All informed consent was obtained from the subjects.

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Law, Y.X.T., Kesavan, A., Loke, W. et al. Does addition of aromatherapy and music help to reduce pain and anxiety during shockwave lithotripsy compared to standard analgesia alone? A randomised controlled trial. Int Urol Nephrol 55, 2405–2410 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-023-03684-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-023-03684-0

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