Music May Cut Postoperative Heart Surgery Anxiety, Pain

THURSDAY, Feb. 4, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Listening to recorded music is associated with a significant reduction in anxiety and pain following cardiac surgery, according to a review published online Jan. 25 in Open Heart.

Ellaha Kakar, from Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and colleagues conducted a systematic literature search and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials evaluating music interventions in cardiac surgery.

Based on 20 eligible studies for qualitative analysis (1,169 patients) and 16 studies for meta-analysis (987 patients), the researchers found that the first postoperative music session was associated with significantly reduced postoperative anxiety and pain. There were reductions of 4.00 points on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and 1.05 points on the Visual Analogue Scale/Numeric Rating Scale for anxiety and a reduction of 1.26 points on the Visual Analogue Scale/Numeric Rating Scale for pain. Multiple days of music intervention were associated with reduced anxiety until eight days postoperatively.

“Unlike pharmacological interventions, music is without side effects so is promising in this population,” the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text