Trial reportAging & mental health2013
Individual music therapy for agitation in dementia: an exploratory randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Aging & mental health, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
48 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 220 citations in OpenAlex.
- Music-based therapeutic interventions for people with dementia.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Are mind-body therapies beneficial for older people with dementia? A Systematic Review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Analysing the use of music to facilitate social interaction in care home residents with dementia: Narrative synthesis systematic review.Dementia (London, England) · 2022Pooled it
- Person-Centered Care in Persons Living With Dementia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.The Gerontologist · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Effects of Nonpharmacological Interventions on Disruptive Vocalisation in Nursing Home Patients With Dementia-A Systematic Review.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciences · 2021Pooled it
- Positive physical and mental outcomes for residents in nursing facilities using music: a systematic review.Clinical interventions in aging · 2019Pooled it
- Music-based therapeutic interventions for people with dementia.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- Music-based therapeutic interventions for people with dementia.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017Pooled it
- A randomized pilot and feasibility trial of live and recorded music interventions for management of delirium symptoms in acute geriatric patients.BMC geriatrics · 2025Trial
- Music Therapy Increases Social and Emotional Well-Being in Persons With Dementia: A Randomized Clinical Crossover Trial Comparing Singing to Verbal Discussion.Journal of music therapy · 2023Trial
- Effects of Group Music Intervention on Depression for Elderly People in Nursing Homes.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Trial
- Individual music therapy for managing neuropsychiatric symptoms for people with dementia and their carers: a cluster randomised controlled feasibility study.BMC geriatrics · 2015Trial
- Musicality is Preserved in Neurodegeneration.The Yale journal of biology and medicine · 2026Review
- Wearable monitoring during music-based interventions in dementia: physiological and behavioral observations from a pilot study.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
- Lightening the Load: The Relationship Between Gait and Cognition for Persons Living with Dementia Engaged in a Non-Pharmacological Intervention.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Beauty in the shadow of neurodegenerative disease: a narrative review on aesthetic experience, neural mechanisms, and therapeutic frontiers.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Review
- Life-long music and dance relationships inform impressions of music- and dance-based movement therapies in individuals with and without mild cognitive impairment.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2024Article
- Investigating the impact of music therapy on two in-patient psychiatric wards for people living with dementia: retrospective observational study.BJPsych open · 2023Article
- Effects of a 10-week musical instrument training on cognitive function in healthy older adults: implications for desirable tests and period of training.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesAgitation in nursing home residents with dementia leads to increase in psychotropic medication, decrease in quality of life, and to patient distress and caregiver burden. Music therapy has previously been found effective in treatment of agitation in dementia care but studies have been methodologically insufficient. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of individual music therapy on agitation in persons with moderate/severe dementia living in nursing homes, and to explore its effect on psychotropic medication and quality of life.
methodIn a crossover trial, 42 participants with dementia were randomized to a sequence of six weeks of individual music therapy and six weeks of standard care. Outcome measures included agitation, quality of life and medication.
resultsAgitation disruptiveness increased during standard care and decreased during music therapy. The difference at -6.77 (95% CI (confidence interval): -12.71, -0.83) was significant (p = 0.027), with a medium effect size (0.50). The prescription of psychotropic medication increased significantly more often during standard care than during music therapy (p = 0.02).
conclusionThis study shows that six weeks of music therapy reduces agitation disruptiveness and prevents medication increases in people with dementia. The positive trends in relation to agitation frequency and quality of life call for further research with a larger sample.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.