• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.1383-1402
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• 2017

This study aims to investigate the effects of aroma inhalation on pain, anxiety, and heart rate variability of elderly women with total knee arthroplasty (TKA) during continuous passive motion (CPM) exercise. Equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. Participants were randomized to intervention group (n=26) or control group (n=27). Participants inhaled aroma or distilled water for 5 minutes before CPM exercise and for 40 minutes during CPM exercise on 3 consecutive days. Pain NRS, number of painkiller used, anxiety NRS, blood pressure, and heart rate variability (HRV) were measured before and after intervention. Pain NRS, anxiety NRS, blood pressure in experimental group were significantly lower than those of control group. All indices of HRV were significantly different between the two groups. Based on these results, it can be concluded that aroma inhalation was effective in decreasing pain and anxiety and changing HRV among elderly women with TKA during CPM exercise.