Effect of Music Therapy on Anxiety and Depression in Breast Cancer Patients: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Xu Zhihui , Liu Cong , Fan Wenjun , Li Shufan , wang xing , Li Yuzhang 
Published: March 2024

Background: ABSTRACT: to systematically evaluate the intervention effect of music therapy on anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients. METHODS: Randomised controlled literature on music therapy for anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients was searched from 7 major databases, PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, WOS, CNIC, Wanfang, and Wipro, spanning the period of library construction to 23 October 2023, and the literature screening of music therapy for anxiety or depression in breast cancer patients was carried out by 2 experimentalists, each of whom conducted a literature screening randomised controlled trial independently of the other. anxiety or depression in a randomised controlled trial. Methodological quality was evaluated using the PEDro scale; GRADE profiler software for quality of evidence; and RevMan 5.3.5 was used for effect size merging and forest plots; publication bias tests and sensitivity analyses were performed using Stata 17.0; and standardised mean difference (SMD) and 95% CI were used as the effect statistics.
RESULTS: A total of 13 RCTs with 1278 subjects (aged 18-70 years) were included in the literature, with a mean PEDro score of 6.8, and the literature was overall of good methodological quality.Meta-analysis showed that music therapy improved anxiety in breast cancer patients (841 cases), with a combined effect size (SMD=-0.82, 95% CI [-1.03,-0.61] and P<0.00001); and improved depression in breast cancer patients (387 cases) with a combined effect size (SMD=-0.76, 95% CI [-1.15,-0.38], P<0.00001). Subgroup analyses showed that music intervention with off-site music (757 cases) and music choice of non-self-selected music (537 cases) had the best effect on anxiety improvement, with corresponding combined effect sizes (SMD=-0.88, P<0.001; SMD=-0.83, P<0.001), respectively; followed by an intervention length of <30 min (589 cases), a frequency of 2 times/day ( 382 cases), and intervention period of 2-3 weeks (101 cases) had the best effect on anxiety improvement, and the corresponding combined effect sizes were (SMD=-0.80, P<0.001; SMD=-0.91, P<0.001; SMD=-1.02, P<0.001), respectively; and the music selection was the choice of one's own favourite music among the expert recommendations (219 cases) (270 cases ) had the best effect on the improvement of depressed mood, with combined effect sizes of (SMD=-1.15, P<0.001; SMD=-0.71, P<0.001) and music with an intervention duration of 30 min (287 cases), an intervention frequency of 1 time/day (348 cases), and an intervention period of 2-4 weeks (120 cases), respectively, with corresponding combined effect sizes of (SMD=-0.75, p<0.001; SMD=-0.86, p<0.001; SMD=-1.06, p<0.001), respectively. DISCUSSION: Music therapy improves anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients and has a high level of evidence. The literature was overall of good methodological quality, but heterogeneity between studies was high, and the heterogeneity of anxiety and depression was explored by subgroup analyses, with anxiety derived from treatment phase, music duration and music cycle; and depression [Liberati, 2009 #2560]derived from intervention cycle and music duration. Sensitivity analyses also identified music duration and music cycle as contributing to the heterogeneity. Also this study has some limitations due to the fact that the included literature did not take into account the duration of the disease, education, family economic status and did not categorise the age stages. This study found that music therapy improves anxiety and depression in breast cancer patients and the results can be used as a basis for clinical practice and researcher enquiry.
FUNDING AND REGISTRATION: This research has been registered on the INPLASY platform (https://inplasy.com/contact/) under the number: INPLASY2023100057.