<p>Listening to music may reduce anxiety and pain in cancer patients, new research suggests. <br />Researchers at Drexel University pooled data from randomised trials of both music medicine, in which recordings simply are played for patients, and music therapy, in which trained therapists use music to assess and treat patients. In all, they looked at 30 studies with a total of 1,891 participants. The study was published in the August issue of The Cochrane Reviews.<br /><br />There was not enough data to determine whether music medicine or music therapy was more effective, but the researchers did find that either technique can reduce anxiety and pain, and improve mood and quality of life, in people with cancer.<br /><br />Listening to music also was linked to some beneficial physiological changes, including small reductions in heart rate, respiratory rate and blood pressure. The number of trials that tested music’s effect on distress, body image and immunological function was too small to draw any conclusions, the researchers concluded.<br /><br />Five small trials tested the effect of music on depression, and none found it useful.<br />The authors caution that the quality of the evidence is not high, largely because it is difficult or impossible to conduct strictly controlled trials of music therapy.<br /><br />“Music is something we use every day,” said Joke Bradt, the lead author and an associate professor of creative arts therapies at Drexel, “and its powers can be used in a very targeted way with cancer patients.”</p>
<p>Listening to music may reduce anxiety and pain in cancer patients, new research suggests. <br />Researchers at Drexel University pooled data from randomised trials of both music medicine, in which recordings simply are played for patients, and music therapy, in which trained therapists use music to assess and treat patients. In all, they looked at 30 studies with a total of 1,891 participants. The study was published in the August issue of The Cochrane Reviews.<br /><br />There was not enough data to determine whether music medicine or music therapy was more effective, but the researchers did find that either technique can reduce anxiety and pain, and improve mood and quality of life, in people with cancer.<br /><br />Listening to music also was linked to some beneficial physiological changes, including small reductions in heart rate, respiratory rate and blood pressure. The number of trials that tested music’s effect on distress, body image and immunological function was too small to draw any conclusions, the researchers concluded.<br /><br />Five small trials tested the effect of music on depression, and none found it useful.<br />The authors caution that the quality of the evidence is not high, largely because it is difficult or impossible to conduct strictly controlled trials of music therapy.<br /><br />“Music is something we use every day,” said Joke Bradt, the lead author and an associate professor of creative arts therapies at Drexel, “and its powers can be used in a very targeted way with cancer patients.”</p>