Effects of Music Intervention on Anxiety, Depression Symptoms and Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Patients: A Meta-Analysis.

Background: Music therapy is often used to relieve anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients, but the clinical effect of music therapy on breast cancer patients is still controversial. This study was a systematic review to investigate the effects of music intervention on anxiety, depression, pain, and quality of life in breast cancer patients.

Method: A computer search of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and The Cochrane Library repositories was conducted. We searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs), published in English until October 2023, on the effects of music interventions on anxiety, depressive symptoms, pain levels, and quality of life in breast cancer patients. The Cochrane Manual of Systematic Review 5.3 was used to evaluate the quality of the included references, and Stata15.0 software was selected for meta-analysis of the study indicators.

Results: A total of 10 articles were included in this study, including 593 patients. Meta-analysis showed that music intervention could effectively alleviate anxiety symptoms [standardized mean difference (SMD) = -2.12, 95% confidence interval (CI): -3.17~-1.07], depression symptoms (SMD: -0.77, 95% CI: -1.47~-0.07), and pain degree (SMD: -3.47, 95% CI: -6.45~-0.48). There was no significant difference in the improvement of patients' quality of life (SMD: -0.07, 95% CI: -0.48~0.34).

Conclusion: Music intervention can effectively relieve anxiety and depression symptoms in patients with breast cancer, and reduce the degree of pain, but demonstration of its ability to improve the quality of life of patients requires additional research.