Efficacy of the Yoga and Aromatherapy on Salivary Hormone and Immune Function in Pregnant Women.

Stress, Psychologic Clinical Trial

Official title: Yoga and Aromatherapy on Salivary Hormone and Immune Function in Pregnant Women.

Status Completed

Clinical Trial Summary

This study's aims are to examine the effects of yoga and aromatherapy on women's stress and immune function during pregnancy.

Clinical Trial Description

This longitudinal, prospective, randomized controlled trial recruited 75 healthy pregnant women from a prenatal clinic in Taipei using convenience sampling. The participants were randomly assigned to the aromatherapy group (n=25), yoga group (n=25) or control (n=25) group using Clinstat block randomization.

The aromatherapy group received 70 minutes of aromatherapy massage once biweekly for 20 weeks; the yoga group participated in two weekly 70-minute yoga sessions led by a midwife certified as a yoga instructor for 20 weeks; the control group received only routine prenatal care. All participants' salivary cortisol and immunoglobulin A levels were collected before and after yoga or aromatherapy every 4 weeks from 16 to 36 weeks' gestation.

To collect a sufficient quantity of saliva, we used Salivette® cotton swabs (Salimetrics, State College, PA, USA), which were stored in double-layer plastic tubes with a lid. When participants chew a swab for about 2 to 3 minutes, saliva flow is stimulated to a sufficient amount (1 mL) for collection. After the tube was centrifuged at 1000 x g for 2 minutes, saliva was stored at -80°C until assay for salivary cortisol and IgA concentrations.

Cortisol was measured using a competitive enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) kit (Cayman Chemical Company, USA), and salivary IgA was measured using double-antibody sandwich ELISA method per the manufacturer's instruction (ICL, Inc., USA). ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Stress, Psychologic
• Stress, Psychological

• NCT number: NCT03002337
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: National Defense Medical Center, Taiwan
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: February 2014
• Completion date: February 2015