Music reduces anxiety in cancer patients

The group of researchers from the Department of Creative Art Therapy at Drexel University in Philadelphia (USA) said music could reduce anxiety in cancer patients.

In addition, music creates positive effects on mood, reduces pain and improves the quality of life in these patients.

The researchers analyzed results from 1,891 patients who participated in 30 trials. In particular, these subjects listened to music with instruction from therapists for 13 sessions, while the other 17 sessions they heard from pre-recorded tapes. In these tests, the time and frequency of participation in the music sessions of these subjects varied greatly.

Music also has some influence on mood and pain.

The results showed that, compared to conventional treatments, music significantly reduced their anxiety based on the anxiety indicators measured by the research groups. In particular, some of these trials show that the effects are much more beneficial than the rest of the trials.

The results also show that music therapy can increase the patient's quality of life. In addition, music has some influence on their mood and pain . Measurements also show that music has beneficial effects on their heart rate, breathing rate and blood pressure.

Lead researcher Dr Joke Bradt said: 'The results show that music intervention can be used as an additional treatment for people with cancer.'

Mr. Bradt also added: 'Music interventions guided by music therapists as well as previously recorded music listening all showed positive results in this study.'