aromatherapy with rosa damascenes in apnea, bradycardia and spo2 of preterm infants; a randomized clinical trial

background  apnea is one of the most common problems in preterm neonates. this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of aromatherapy on the reduction of apnea, bradycardia, and pulse oximetry (spo2) in premature infants. materials and methods in a clinical trial study, 60 preterm neonates randomly divided in two groups and exposed to aromatherapy with rosa damascenes distillate or distilled water beside the routine treatment. in experimental group, two drops of 10% rosa damascenes distillate was dropped on the pad eye in second day of birth at 6 am. the intervention was repeated in 9 am, 12 am, 15 pm and 18 pm hours. a same condition applied for control group and distilled water was dropped on the pad eye. the number of apnea attacks, bradycardia and decrease in spo2 compared between two groups using chi-square test, independent t-test and repeated measure test. results the overall apnea attacks, bradycardia, and spo2 in tree studied days were lower in intervention group than control group (0.47±0.13 vs. 2.6±0.41, 0.47±0.13 vs. 2.56±0.41 and 0.70±0.17 vs. 2.77±0.21, respectively). in addition, the repeated measurement test showed that the mean number of apnea attacks, decrease in heart pulse rate, and decrease in spo2 was statistically lower in intervention group with aromatherapy than controls in first, second, third and sum of three days (p< 0.05). conclusion aromatherapy with rosa damascenes distillate can reduce more and speedy the occurrence of apnea attacks, bradycardia and spo2 in premature infants, along with other routine treatment.