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The efficacy of music therapy to relieve pain, anxiety, and promote sleep quality, in patients with small cell lung cancer receiving platinum-based chemotherapy

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Supportive Care in Cancer Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Chemotherapy induces a range of physical and psychological symptoms, including pain, sleep disorders, fatigue, and anxiety. We aimed to assess the efficacy of six-step music therapy in relieving pain and anxiety and improving sleep quality in lung cancer patients receiving platinum-based chemotherapy.

Methods

Between March 2013 and October 2015, we enrolled a total of 100 patients who were diagnosed with small cell lung cancer and scheduled for platinum-based chemotherapy. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups: the music therapy group (received six-step music therapy, n=50) and the control group (not received six-step music therapy, n=50). The anxiety, pain, and sleep quality of all patients were assessed using the self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), the visual analogue scale (VAS), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), respectively.

Results

There were no significant differences in the demographic characteristics and music background between the two groups. The SAS and VAS scores in the two groups were not statistically different before chemotherapy. However, patients in the music therapy group showed significantly lower SAS and VAS scores compared with the control group at both 1 day and 5 days after chemotherapy. (SAS score at 1-day post-therapy, 49.48±2.14 vs 61.46±8.8, P=0.011; SAS score at 5-day post-therapy, 39.73±1.79 vs 62.02±8.83, P=0.005; VAS score at 1-day post-therapy, 2.14±0.78 vs 4.74±1.01, P=0.005; VAS score at 5-day post-therapy, 2.06±0.79 vs 4.74±1.08, P=0.004). In addition, the total PSQI score of patients who received music therapy was also significantly higher than that of the control group after therapy (total PSQI score at 1-day post-therapy, 8.50±1.69 vs 17.81±3.01, P=0.006; total PSQI score at 5-day post-chemotherapy, 9.84±3.02 vs 18.66±2.91, P=0.012).

Conclusion

The music therapy was an effective approach in alleviating pain and anxiety and promoting sleep quality in lung cancer patients receiving platinum-based chemotherapy.

Trial registration

Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (registration number: ChiCTR-TRC-13003993)

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Data Availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article

Code availability

N/A.

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Funding

This work was supported by Foundation of the Department of Science and Technology of Hunan Province (NO.2012FJ2004).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Music Therapist of Department of Nursing, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510150, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China

    Haoke Tang

  2. Department of Nursing, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510150, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China

    Liping Chen

  3. Department of Critical Care Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510150, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China

    Yichun Wang

  4. Department of Lung Cancer and Gastroenterology, Hunan Cancer Hospital, Changsha, 410013, Hunan Province, People’s Republic of China

    Yongchang Zhang & Nong Yang

  5. Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, No.63, Duobao Road, Liwan District, Guangzhou, 510150, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China

    Ning Yang

Authors
  1. Haoke Tang
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  2. Liping Chen
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  3. Yichun Wang
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  4. Yongchang Zhang
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Contributions

Ning Yang designed the study; Haoke Tang, Liping Chen, and Yichun Wang collected the clinical data; Yongchang Zhang and Nong Yang performed the statistical analyses; Ning Yang provided critical comments, suggestions, and revised the paper. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ning Yang.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

This study was approved by the ethics committee of the Hunan Cancer Hospital. This project was registered on the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (registration number: ChiCTR-TRC-13003993).

Consent to participate

All patients provided written informed consent prior to study enrollment.

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The informed consent for publication was obtained from all participants.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Tang, H., Chen, L., Wang, Y. et al. The efficacy of music therapy to relieve pain, anxiety, and promote sleep quality, in patients with small cell lung cancer receiving platinum-based chemotherapy. Support Care Cancer 29, 7299–7306 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06152-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06152-6

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