Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Endosc. May 16, 2017; 9(5): 228-237
Published online May 16, 2017. doi: 10.4253/wjge.v9.i5.228
Does music reduce anxiety and discomfort during flexible sigmoidoscopy? A systematic review and meta-analysis
Arun P Shanmuganandan, Muhammad R Sameem Siddiqui, Nicholas Farkas, Kiran Sran, Rhys Thomas, Said Mohamed, Robert I Swift, Al Mutaz Abulafi
Arun P Shanmuganandan, Muhammad R Sameem Siddiqui, Nicholas Farkas, Rhys Thomas, Said Mohamed, Robert I Swift, Al Mutaz Abulafi, Department of Colorectal Surgery, Croydon University Hospital, Croydon, Surrey CR77YE, United Kingdom
Kiran Sran, Department of Surgery, Royal Free Hospital, London NW32QG, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Shanmuganandan AP, Siddiqui MRS and Farkas N performed the literature search; Shanmuganandan AP and Siddiqui MRS analysed the data; Shanmuganandan AP, Siddiqui MRS and Sran K wrote and corrected the manuscript; Shanmuganandan AP, Siddiqui MRS, Thomas R, Mohamed S, Swift RI and Abulafi AM wrote and corrected the manuscript, and approved it for final submission.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.
Data sharing statement: No additional data available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Al Mutaz Abulafi, Department of Colorectal Surgery, Croydon University Hospital, 530 London Rd, Croydon, Surrey CR77YE, United Kingdom. muti.abulafi@nhs.net
Telephone: +44-208-4013325 Fax: +44-208-4013606
Received: December 11, 2016
Peer-review started: December 26, 2016
First decision: February 4, 2017
Revised: February 24, 2017
Accepted: March 23, 2017
Article in press: March 24, 2017
Published online: May 16, 2017
Processing time: 156 Days and 6.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: The use of flexible sigmoidoscopy is becoming more prevalent particularly in the context of bowel cancer screening; however uptake remains low and patients are often anxious when attending about discomfort and embarrassment. We conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies investigating the role of music in reducing anxiety and discomfort in patients undergoing screening flexible sigmoidoscopy. In our review, music reduced anxiety and was deemed a helpful intervention by the patients. It may also reduce discomfort but further studies are required to confirm this. Music may potentially improve patient experience and have a positive effect on the test uptake.