An interventional study of Deep Breathing Relaxation and Lemongrass Aromatherapy in Chronic Kidney Disease; End-Stage Renal Disease; Hemodialysis; Pain; Anxiety, sponsored by University of Baghdad. Active, not recruiting at 1 site in Iraq. Open to participants aged 20 Years to 60 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-17.
Sponsored by University of Baghdad · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care
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This randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate the effect of deep breathing relaxation combined with lemongrass aromatherapy on pain during arteriovenous fistula needle insertion and anxiety in hemodialysis patients. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either the combined relaxation intervention or standard care. Pain intensity and anxiety levels will be assessed before and after needle insertion.
Hemodialysis patients experience recurrent pain and anxiety during arteriovenous fistula cannulation, which can negatively affect treatment adherence and quality of life. Non-pharmacological interventions such as deep breathing relaxation and aromatherapy have shown potential in reducing procedure-related pain and anxiety. Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) essential oil contains citral and other compounds with reported anxiolytic and analgesic properties. However, the combined effect of deep breathing relaxation with lemongrass aromatherapy has not been well studied in this population. This study will recruit hemodialysis patients who require arteriovenous fistula cannulation. The intervention group will receive deep breathing relaxation instruction combined with lemongrass aromatherapy inhalation before needle insertion. The control group will receive standard care. The primary outcomes are pain intensity measured by the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and anxiety measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Secondary outcomes include physiological parameters (heart rate, blood pressure) and patient satisfaction. Data will be collected during three consecutive hemodialysis sessions to assess consistency of effects.
2,109 studies on the registry are indexed under Kidney Failure, Chronic; 273 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 190 is above the median of 57 across 1,569 interventional studies indexed under Kidney Failure, Chronic.
Browse Kidney Failure, Chronic studies →University of Baghdad is the lead sponsor of 171 studies on the registry; 70 are open to participants now.
Compared within Kidney Failure, Chronic, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Renal Insufficiency, Chronic. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →
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Exclusion Criteria:
Participants receive deep breathing relaxation instruction combined with lemongrass essential oil inhalation for a specified duration before each needle insertion, across three hemodialysis sessions.
Behavioral: Deep Breathing Relaxation · Other: Lemongrass Aromatherapy
Participants receive standard care and routine needle insertion procedure without the study interventions
Participants are instructed to perform slow, deep diaphragmatic breathing at a controlled rate for a specified duration before needle insertion.
Lemongrass essential oil (diluted to 10% concentration) is applied to a cotton pad placed at a standardized distance from the participant for inhalation during the relaxation period.
Pain Intensity Measured by Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)
VAS score (0-100 mm, where 0 = no pain and 100 = worst imaginable pain) assessed immediately after needle insertion.
Time frame: Immediately after needle insertion, during three consecutive hemodialysis sessions
Anxiety Measured by State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)
State anxiety subscale score of the STAI, a validated 20-item self-report instrument. Higher scores indicate greater anxiety.
Time frame: Before and immediately after needle insertion
Plan to share: No
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Started Aug 2026 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Oct 2026, 2 months after the start.
Of 347 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Kidney Failure, Chronic, half reached primary completion within 23 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 8 and three quarters within 47. This study's planned 2 months is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 425 studies reached it within 22 months; a quarter within 8 and three quarters within 46.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is active, not recruiting, as verified in Sep 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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