Music intervention as a strategy to reduce preoperative anxiety: an umbrella review.

BACKGROUND

Preoperative anxiety is pervasive among patients awaiting surgical procedures and is associated with an increased risk of postoperative complications. Music intervention is a promising strategy to alleviate preoperative anxiety levels and is easily implementable even in busy clinical settings. Our objective was to conduct an umbrella review of systematic reviews studying the efficacy of music intervention in reducing preoperative anxiety among adult patients.

METHODS

To identify systematic reviews assessing the effects of music intervention on preoperative anxiety in adult surgical patients, we retrieved MEDLINE via PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Library from inception until 22 August 2024. The primary outcome was to review the overall efficacy of music intervention in reducing preoperative anxiety levels. In addition, specific details regarding the implementation of music intervention were also summarized. We assessed the quality of the included systematic reviews by using A MeaSurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews 2 checklist.

RESULTS

Six eligible systematic reviews (i.e. one high-quality, four moderate-quality, and one low-quality review) analyzing 40 primary studies were included. The reporting on the intervention content and its implementation process was often unsatisfactory, with some key information missing. The pooled results on the reduction of preoperative anxiety using music intervention were statistically significant (MD = -5.20, 95%CI (-6.32, -4.07), I = 49%). Subgroup analyses revealed that music intervention had a more pronounced effect when the duration of the intervention was 20 min or longer and in patients younger than 60 years of age.

CONCLUSION

Music intervention may have a beneficial effect on reducing preoperative anxiety levels. However, to optimize the integration of music intervention into routine clinical practice, high-quality evidence and especially clearer reporting on the implementation methods are required.

REGISTRATION

PROSPERO (CRD42022333246).