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. 2022 Jan-Feb;12(1):1-7.
doi: 10.22038/AJP.2021.18420.

Effect of Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia L.) syrup on olfactory dysfunction in COVID-19 infection: A pilot controlled clinical trial

Fataneh Hashem-Dabaghian  1 , Sadegh Ali Azimi  2 , Mohsen Bahrami  3 , Seied-Amirhossein Latifi  4 , Ayesheh Enayati  5 , Marzieh Qaraaty  6
Affiliations

Effect of Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia L.) syrup on olfactory dysfunction in COVID-19 infection: A pilot controlled clinical trial

Fataneh Hashem-Dabaghian et al. Avicenna J Phytomed. 2022 Jan-Feb.

Abstract

Objective: The effect of lavender syrup on COVID-19-induced olfactory dysfunction (OD) has been assessed in this study.

Materials and methods: This pilot clinical trial was conducted in Gonbad-E-Kavoos (Golestan province, Iran). Twenty-three outpatients with COVID-19 and OD in lavender group took 9 ml of lavender syrup/bid for 3 weeks along with the standard COVID-19 treatments and 20 patients in control group took only standard COVID-19 treatments. The severity of OD was assessed by the visual analogue scale (VAS). Data analysis was performed by Friedman and Mann-Whitney tests using SPSS software.

Results: The mean± standard deviation of age was 36.6±9.1, and 42.6±10.4 years (p=0.05), and the duration of symptoms was 7.4±3.5, and 7.5±3.4 days (p=0.98) in the lavender and control group, respectively. The VAS score for OD decreased from 6.8±3.04 to 0.26±0.86 in the lavender group and from 5.3±3.4 to 1±2.61 in the control group. Although, VAS for OD was significantly decreased in both groups (p<0.001), the amount of VAS decrease was 6.6±2.9 scores in the lavender group, and 4.3±4 in the control group (p=0.03). No side effects were observed in the lavender group.

Conclusion: The present study showed that lavender syrup is an effective treatment for COVID-19-induced OD. It is suggested to conduct further studies with larger sample size.

Keywords: Anosmia; COVID-19; Herbal medicine; Lavendula; Persian medicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The CONSORT flow diagram of the study
Figure 2
Figure 2
OD severity at 6 time points. 1=Lavender group, 2=control group, VAS for OD: the severity of olfactory dysfunction
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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