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Daily News from Healthypages

Tuesday, July 23, 2002

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Thumbs up for herbal remedies in dementia

 

Aromatherapy with balm oil is an effective treatment for agitation in people

with severe dementia, a UK study concludes.

 

Preliminary trials have indicated the positive effects of aromatherapy on

behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia, such as agitation, but

this is the first to provide conclusive placebo-controlled proof of the

effectiveness of the treatment, say the researchers.

 

Researchers from Newcastle General Hospital looked at 71 patients to assess

the effect of aromatherapy on dementia-associated agitation using a specific

measurement called the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI).

 

The patients were evenly split between those treated with Melissa officinalis

– sometimes known as “lemon balm†aromatherapy oil – and those who were

given the placebo sunflower oil.

 

Caregivers applied the designated ointments to each patient’s face and arms

twice a day.

 

Sixty per cent of the patients who received the active treatment experienced

a 30 per cent reduction in their CMAI score compared to only 14 per cent of

the placebo-treated group.

 

The researchers also found that patients receiving the essential balm oil

were also less likely to be socially withdrawn and more frequently found in “

constructive activitiesâ€.

 

Dr Clive Ballard and his team, writing in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry,

argue that with an ageing population it is increasingly important to find

ways of dealing with dementia and its associated symptoms.

 

“The results indicate that aromatherapy with essential balm oil is safe, well

tolerated and highly efficacious,†conclude the authors.

 

However, they say that there remains a need for further longer-term,

multi-centre trials to investigate the use of aromatherapy as an additional

or alternative method of treatment to psychotropic medication for dementia

patients suffering agitation.