Significance of music therapy in treating depression and anxiety disorders among people with cancer

Table 1 Results on the significance of music therapy on people with the most common types of cancer

Ref.	Objective of the study	Research designs/Methods	Findings/Results
Romito et al[69]	To measure the effects of music therapy and emotional expression on the reduction of negative emotions in patients undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer	62 breast cancer patients were randomly recruited into the experimental and control group	The combination of music therapy and emotional expression was identified to help reduce anger and depression that impacts the mental health of women with breast cancer
Zhou et al[72]	To examine the effects of music therapy and muscle relaxation training on depression and anxiety, as well as the length of hospitalization	An intervention group of 170 patients was randomly selected and assigned to the study; a randomized controlled trial was conducted	Depression and anxiety level reduction using music therapy
Kievisiene et al[73]	To explore the available reports on the effects of music therapy and art therapy interventions among breast cancer patients	A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, EBSCO, and the Cochrane Central database. A total of 20 randomized controlled trials were systematically reviewed	Music therapy is commonly used for anxiety reduction during and after oncological treatment sessions
Wang et al[83]	To examine the effect on hemodynamics and analgesia of postoperative intravenous sufentanil combined with music therapy in patients with lung cancer in comparison to sufentanil alone	60 lung cancer patients were randomly distributed to a music therapy group and a control group	After lung cancer surgery, patients in the music therapy group were reported to have significantly low anxiety rate, heart rate, blood pressure etc. which would have resulted in a psychological disorder
Mou et al[84]	To examine the effects of passive music therapy on patients with lung cancer during the initial peripherally implanted central catheter implantation operation on their anxiety levels and vital signs	304 lung cancer patients participated in the randomized controlled trial	Blood pressure, heart rate, and anxiety decreased significantly among lung cancer patients in the experimental group. The findings indicate that music therapy is beneficial for lung cancer patients when they are undergoing central catheter insertion
Tang et al[86]	To determine if six-step music therapy is effective in reducing pain and anxiety in patients with lung cancer receiving platinum-based chemotherapy and whether it improves sleep	Two groups-music treatment and a control group-each consisting of 100 patients with small cell lung cancer, were chosen at random	Patients with lung cancer who receive music therapy report less discomfort, less worry, and better sleep
Mishra et al[93]	To explore how music therapy affects patients having a RALP after surgery	18 yr and older men (40 patients) undergoing RALP were randomly assigned to music and control group	Music facilitates the comfort and reduction of narcotic usage among prostate cancer patients
Yung et al[94]	To ascertain how music therapy affects Chinese males having transurethral prostate resections in terms of pre-operative anxiety	A quasi-experimental design involving 30 patients with TURP	Music intervention is associated with a significant reduction in anxiety levels
Smolen et al[99]	To investigate the impact of music therapy on physiological and self-reported indicators of anxiety	32 adult patients scheduled for ambulatory colonoscopy were involved in the study	Patients who are having colonoscopies benefit from music therapy as it reduces the level of anxiety
Tanriverdi et al[100]	To determine how music therapy affects patients with early-stage colorectal cancer in terms of anxiety and chemotherapy-related nausea	A randomized controlled trial involving 62 patients	Music therapy was identified to be associated with a decrease in anxiety levels
Li et al[101]	To investigate the effects of music therapy on patients suffering from breast cancer in terms of their mental and physical state	25 to 65 years old female patients with breast cancer and receiving mastectomy were grouped into intervention and control groups	Music therapy was found to be useful and significant in improving the mental and physical health of women with breast cancer
Chirico et al[102]	To access the efficacy of virtual reality and compare its effects with music therapy	30 breast cancer patients were recruited into VR and MT groups respectively and 34 who were receiving standard chemotherapeutic care were assigned to a control group	Music intervention was discovered to be useful in addressing anxiety and facilitating the mental well-being of breast cancer patients

RALP: Robotically assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy; TURP: Transurethral resection of the prostate.