Trial reportAmerican journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses2020
Decreasing Delirium Through Music: A Randomized Pilot Trial.
Trial report in American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 5 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
29 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 70 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cognitive Rehabilitation Interventions in the Intensive Care Unit: A Systematic Integrative Review.Acta anaesthesiologica Scandinavica · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of music therapy on delirium, clinical outcomes, and psychological and sleep outcomes in adult ICU patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Pooled it
- The research progress of perioperative non-pharmacological interventions on postoperative cognitive dysfunction: a narrative review.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Music-Based Intervention in Improving Uncomfortable Symptoms in ICU Patients: An Umbrella Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions to prevent delirium in critically ill patients: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Intensive care medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Slow-Tempo Music and Delirium/Coma-Free Days Among Older Adults Undergoing Mechanical Ventilation: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA internal medicine · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Development and Deployment of a Music Listening Intervention Mobile Application for a Two-Group Blinded Randomized Clinical Trial.Clinical nursing research · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Analysis of Preferred Music of Mechanically Ventilated Intensive Care Unit Patients Enrolled in a Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of integrative and complementary medicine · 2022Trial
- Effectiveness of Non-Pharmacological Interventions for the Prevention of Postoperative Delirium in Critically Ill Adult Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2026Review
- The Impact of Recorded Music on Postoperative Delirium in Older Adults After Hip Fracture Surgery (IPOD): A Quasi-Experimental Study.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2026Article
- The Neuropsychiatric Disturbances of Delirium: A Review of Syndromes and Their Treatment.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2026Review
- Effect of music therapy on outcomes of critically ill patients.World journal of critical care medicine · 2025Article
- Videoart in the intensive care unit: A prospective observational study.Journal of intensive medicine · 2025Article
- Delirium Severity Trajectories in Critically Ill Adults Using the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist: A Population-Based Cohort.Critical care medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Delirium in the ICU: how much do we know? A narrative review.Annals of medicine · 2024Review
- Live music in the intensive care unit - a beautiful experience.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2024Article
- Development and validation of a nomogram to predict postoperative delirium in older patients after major abdominal surgery: a retrospective case-control study.Perioperative medicine (London, England) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 7 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundManagement of delirium in intensive care units is challenging because effective therapies are lacking. Music is a promising nonpharmacological intervention.
objectivesTo determine the feasibility and acceptability of personalized music (PM), slow-tempo music (STM), and attention control (AC) in patients receiving mechanical ventilation in an intensive care unit, and to estimate the effect of music on delirium.
methodsA randomized controlled trial was performed in an academic medical-surgical intensive care unit. After particular inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, patients were randomized to groups listening to PM, relaxing STM, or an audiobook (AC group). Sessions lasted 1 hour and were given twice daily for up to 7 days. Patients wore noise-canceling headphones and used mp3 players to listen to their music/audiobook. Delirium and delirium severity were assessed twice daily by using the Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU) and the CAM-ICU-7, respectively.
resultsOf the 1589 patients screened, 117 (7.4%) were eligible. Of those, 52 (44.4%) were randomized, with a recruitment rate of 5 patients per month. Adherence was higher in the groups listening to music (80% in the PM and STM groups vs 30% in the AC group; P = .01), and 80% of patients surveyed rated the music as enjoyable. The median number (interquartile range) of delirium/coma-free days by day 7 was 2 (1-6) for PM, 3 (1-6) for STM, and 2 (0-3) for AC (P = .32). Median delirium severity was 5.5 (1-7) for PM, 3.5 (0-7) for STM, and 4 (1-6.5) for AC (P = .78).
conclusionsMusic delivery is acceptable to patients and is feasible in intensive care units. Further research testing use of this promising intervention to reduce delirium is warranted.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.