The Effect of Bergamot Essential Oil Aromatherapy on Improving Depressive Mood and Sleep Quality in Postpartum Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: The postpartum period is a physiologically and psychologically crucial transition phase for every woman who gives birth. Aromatherapy may improve mood and alleviate sleep challenges. However, few randomized controlled clinical trials have focused on the effect of aromatherapy in postpartum women. PURPOSE: This study was designed to explore the effect of a bergamot essential oil aromatherapy intervention on depressive mood and sleep quality in postpartum women. METHODS: This randomized controlled trial used consecutive sampling. The participants were all women in a postpartum care center in eastern Taiwan and were randomly assigned to either the experimental (n = 29) or control (n = 31) group. Bergamot essential oil aroma was used in the experimental group, and pure water aroma was used in the control group. The experimental and control interventions were both performed while the participants were residents at the postpartum care center in the afternoon for 15 minutes each day. Before the aroma intervention, pretests were conducted using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the Postpartum Sleep Quality Scale. The first and second posttests were conducted using the same two scales at 2 and 4 weeks after the intervention, respectively. RESULTS: At both the first and second posttests, depressive mood was significantly lower (p < .001) in the experimental group than in the control group, supporting the positive effect of the bergamot essential oil aroma intervention on depressive mood in postpartum women. No significant intergroup difference in sleep quality (p > .05) was observed at either the first or second posttest, indicating an uncertain effect of the bergamot essential oil aroma intervention on sleep quality. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The results of this study support the effectiveness of bergamot essential oil aromatherapy in alleviating depressive mood in postpartum women. In addition, the results provide a practical reference for clinical postpartum nursing care.

Association of muscarinic m1 receptor genetic polymorphisms with psychiatric symptoms and cognitive function in schizophrenic patients.

OBJECTIVE: The cholinergic system is important in the search for the pathophysiology of schizophrenia due to its role in cognitive function, interaction with the dopamine system in brain regions relevant to schizophrenia, side effects of antipsychotic medication and potential antipsychotic effect of muscarinic receptor antagonists. This study investigated the association of type I muscarinic receptor (CHRM1) genetic polymorphisms with the clinical characteristics of chronic schizophrenic inpatients. METHODS: We determined the genotype of CHRM1 genetic polymorphisms in 243 schizophrenic patients hospitalized in chronic care wards. Psychotic symptoms were assessed using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), and cognitive function was assessed using the Folstein Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) test. Sixty of the 243 subjects also completed the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). RESULTS: There was a significant difference in the number of correct responses and the percentage of perseverative errors in the WCST in the CHRM1 C267A genotype group of schizophrenia patients. There was no significant association between age at onset, chlorpromazine equivalents, BPRS scores, MMSE or schizophrenia per se in patients with the CHRM1 C267A genotype. The full exon of the CHRM1 gene was screened out with single-strand conformation polymorphism, and 2 single nucleotide polymorphisms (C267A and C1353T) were identified in our patients and control subjects. These 2 single nucleotide polymorphisms were linked together without exception. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that in schizophrenic patients, the heterozygote group of CHRM1 C267A polymorphism (267C/A) had more correct responses and less perseverative errors on the WCST performance than the 267C/C homozygote group, implicating that this polymorphism may be related to prefrontal cortical function. Our results also suggested that the C267A polymorphism plays no major role in the susceptibility to and clinical manifestations of schizophrenia.