Effectiveness of five-element music therapy in cancer patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Journal

Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice

Year

2021

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To systematically evaluate the effectiveness of five-element music therapy on anxiety, depression, quality of life (QoL), sleep quality and Karnofsky performance score (KPS) in cancer patients. METHODS: We searched English databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science) and Chinese databases (CNKI, WanFang, CBM and VIP database) from the inception to December 25, 2020. Two investigators independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias according to the eligibility criteria. The RevMan 5.3 software was used to perform the meta-analysis. RESULTS: A total of 22 studies, 2053 people with cancer were included. Meta-analysis showed that five-element music therapy had a significant difference for relieving depression (SMD = -1.11, 95% CI: 1.41 to -0.82, P < 0.00001), QoL (SMD = 1.41, 95% CI:0.58 to 2.23, P = 0.0008), sleep quality (MD = -1.73, 95% CI: 2.34 to -1.12, P < 0.00001), and KPS (MD = 4.75, 95% CI:2.31 to 7.18, P = 0.0001). And five-element music therapy did not show a positive effect on anxiety (SMD = -0.60, 95% CI: 1.47 to 0.27, P = 0.17). CONCLUSIONS: Five-element music therapy had a positive effect on depression, QoL, sleep quality, and KPS in cancer patients, while did not show a positive effect on anxiety. Future researchers need to optimize the research program and conduct more high-quality, large sample, multi-center randomized controlled studies. Besides, it would be helpful for future researchers to explain the five-element music therapy being examined and how it is potentially useful in western contexts.

Music and Health Institute Terms

Anxiety; Cancer; Depression; Music Therapy; Quality of Life; Sleep Quality

Indexed Terms

Meta-analysis; Quality of Life; Randomized controlled trial; Anxiety; Neoplasms; Cancer patients; Five-element music

Study Type

Meta-Analysis; Quantitative Methods; Systematic Review

Document Type

Article

Share

COinS