Effect of Essential Oils Versus Home Remedies on Relieving Signs of Acute Respiratory Tract Infection among Children

Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) accounts for more than 94 million cases annually and 1.9 million deaths among children worldwide. ARI is the most common cause of illness and mortality in children under five years old. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of essential oils versus home remedies on relieving signs and symptoms of ARI among children. This study was a non-randomized clinical trial done on 100 children who were assigned to two groups. The severity of symptoms, cough and sleep difficulty were compared in the two groups by using Structured Interview Schedule and the Canadian Acute Respiratory Illness and Flu Scale (CARIFS). The entire group that received essential oils (100%) had mild level of cough and sleep difficulty after 7 days post-intervention, while 72% of the control (home remedies) group had a moderate level of these symptoms. Moreover, there was a marked decrease in all CARIFS items in the intervention group with decreased fever, vomiting, irritability, sore throat and headache post-intervention and there was a highly statistically significant difference among all CARIFS items between control and intervention groups at 7 days post-intervention. Mixture of five essential oils used in this study had more effect than home remedies on relieving signs and symptoms of ARI and this treatment is suggested as a safe and cost effective method to reduce ARI among children.