The Effectiveness of Music Therapy in Reducing Perioperative Pain and Anxiety: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background

There is a high prevalence of perioperative anxiety and pain in patients undergoing various types of surgical procedures. Preoperative anxiety can worsen postoperative pain and lead to poor postoperative outcomes, including mortality and morbidity.

Aim

The purpose of this systematic review was to investigate the effectiveness of music therapy in reducing perioperative anxiety and pain.

Methods

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published between 2010 and 2023 were searched on CINHAL, Medline, PubMed, Cochrane, Science Direct, and Google Scholar. The RCTs were synthesized by combining a narrative synthesis approach and evidence levels approach. The quality assessment of the studies was performed using the CASP Checklist for RCTs.

Results

It was found that there is moderate evidence supporting the effectiveness of music therapy in reducing preoperative anxiety, as supported by multiple RCTs of moderate methodological quality. However, there was inconclusive evidence regarding the effectiveness of music therapy in reducing postoperative pain because of inconsistent findings between moderate-quality RCTs.

Conclusion and Implications

The findings of this systematic review support previous reviews that have demonstrated the effectiveness of music therapy in reducing preoperative anxiety. However, the unique evidence synthesis approach undertaken in this systematic review yielded findings inconsistent with previous reviews that have supported the effectiveness of music therapy in reducing postoperative pain. Therefore, music therapy can be used as an intervention to reduce preoperative anxiety. However, it should be used cautiously for postoperative pain treatment in the absence of preoperative anxiety. Future RCTs should address the high risk of bias noted in the reviewed RCTs due to the non-blinding of participants and investigators.