Table.

Aromatherapy and bright light treatment as interventions for behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia

Study	Intervention and delivery method	Design	Patient group	Outcome	Other key points
Aromatherapy
Holmes et al6	2% Lavender oil via aromatherapy stream daily	Double blind placebo controlled crossover (alternate days) for 10 days	Severe dementia in NHS continuing care (n=15)	Significant improvement in Philadelphia agitation scale (P=0.02), with 60% of patients having some benefit	No adverse events Compliance: 100%
Smallwood et al7	Twice weekly	Two week single blind randomised controlled trial. Aromatherapy+massage v aromatherapy+conversation v massage alone	Inpatients with severe dementia (n=21)	Significant improvement (P<0.056) in motor behaviour (34% reduction with aromatherapy +massage)	—
Ballard et al8	Melissa oil (10% by weight combined with base lotion) via cream applied to hands twice daily (200 mg oil)	Double blind placebo controlled trial. Melissa oil v sunflower oil	Severe dementia in NHS continuing care (n=72)	Significant (P<0.0001) improvement in Cohen Mansfield agitation inventory (median improvement of 22 points after active treatment)	No major adverse effects. 97% of people assigned to active treatment completed the trial
Bright light treatment
Haffmanns et al9	Bright light 30 +/–morning (2.5 mg) melatonin or placebo	Double blind placebo controlled crossover trial (n=10; 6 completed)	DSM-IV dementia with motor restless behaviour	Treatment reduced motor restlessness	—
Lyketsos et al10	1 hour bright light, morning	Randomised controlled crossover trial (n=15; 8 completed)	Dementia agitation	Treatment increased total sleep time, no change in behaviour	—
Graf et al11	Evening bright light v dim light therapy	Randomised bright light or dim light therapy (n=23)	Dementia	Treatment increased mini-mental state examination scores and led to a phase shift in body temperature rhythm	—