To assess the effects of music intervention on physiological and psychological responses of patients with cancer.

A computerized search in China Biology Medicine, China National Knowledge Infrastructure,Wanfang data,VIP, Cochrane library, Web of Science and PubMed was performed for relevant randomized control trials comparing the effects of music intervention on physiological and psychological responses of patients with cancer. The quality of studies was critically appraised and data were extracted by two reviewers independently. The Cochrane-Handbook5.0 was used to evaluate the quality of studies. Data was analyzed by RevMan5.0 software.

A total of 29 randomized control trials were involved. Eleven studies about the effects of music intervention on anxiety level of patients with cancer were assessed with Self-rating Anxiety Scale,Meta analysis confirmed that music intervention could effectively reduce the anxiety level of patients with cancer(WMD=-11.74, 95%CI-11.94--8.53, P<0.01). Four studies about the effects of music intervention on anxiety level of patients with cancer were assessed with state-trait anxiety inventory,Meta analysis confirmed that music intervention could effectively reduce the anxiety level of patients with cancer(WMD=-8.24, 95%CI-9.44--7.04, P<0.01). Meta-analysis showed that music intervention was able to relieve anxiety, depression, pain of patients with cancer. Two studies about the effects of music intervention on anxiety level of patients with cancer were assessed with Hamilton Anxiety Scale,Meta analysis confirmed that music intervention could effectively reduce the anxiety level of patients with cancer(WMD=-3.37, 95%CI-4.93--1.82, P<0.01). Fourteen studies about the effects of music intervention on depression level of patients with cancer were assessed with Self-rating Depression Scale,Meta analysis confirmed that music intervention could effectively reduce the depression level of patients with cancer(WMD=-8.12, 95%CI-10.75--5.49, P<0.01). Three studies about the effects of music intervention on depression level of patients with cancer were assessed with Hamilton Depression Scale,Meta analysis confirmed that music intervention could effectively reduce the depression level of patients with cancer(WMD=-3.27, 95%CI-6.34--0.21, P=0.04). A total of 9 studies were conducted to evaluate the effects of music intervention on patients with the pain Visual Analogue Scale,Meta analysis confirmed that music intervention could effectively reduce the pain level of patients with cancer (WMD=-0.83, 95%CI-1.23--0.44, P<0.01).A total of 6 studies were conducted to evaluate the effects of music intervention on heart rate in cancer patients,Meta analysis confirmed that music intervention could stabilize the heart rate of patients(WMD=-3.38, 95%CI-5.13--1.62, P=0.002).A total of 6 studies were conducted to evaluate the effects of music intervention on systolic blood pressure in patients with cancer,the results of Meta analysis showed that music intervention could stabilize the systolic pressure in patients (WMD=-5.34, 95%CI-7.95--2.73,P<0.01).

Music intervention has effects on reducing potentially harmful psychological responses of patients with cancer,which deserve to be explored and spread in clinical practice.

Music intervention; Anxiety; Depression; Physiological status; Meta-analysis