Purpose: To determine the effects of music interventions on pain and fatigue management in patients with breast cancer.
Methods: All published randomized and quasi-randomized placebo-controlled studies targeting breast cancer patients (aged 25 -65 years) were all enrolled.A meta-analysis was carried out to apply a critical appraisal and a synthetic summary of enrolled studies. Randomized and research-based literature in Cochrane, PUBMED CINAHL and EMBASE concerning the effects of music therapy in patients aged 25 to 65 years, diagnosed of breast cancer were included up to Sep 30, 2018. This meta-analysis followed the Cochrane Handbook: Guidelines for Systematic Reviews of Interventions to evaluate the risk of bias among enrolled studies.
Results: A total of 280 breast cancer patients (139 in the music intervention group and 141 in the routine care group) from 4 experiments were included in this meta-analysis. The mean difference (MD) of pain reduction using music intervention in breast cancer patients between studies was significant (MD -0.55; 95% CI -0.89 to –0.21; P < 0.0001), but the effect on fatigue was not statistically significant (MD 1.79; 95% CI -2.54 to 6.11; P < 0.0001),
Implications for practices/Conclusions: This meta-analysis shows that music interventions is an effective therapy for breast cancer patients on pain reduction but no effect on fatigue.
According to the present meta-analysis, music therapy is likely to be an effective intervention for pain improvement for breast cancer patients, however the effect on fatigue was not benefit for breast cancer patients.