ArticleCureus2025
Efficacy of Music Therapy in Reducing Anxiety Among Postsurgical Cancer Patients: An Open-Label Randomized Controlled Trial.
Article in Cureus, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effects of different art therapies on the psychological well-being and quality of life in cancer survivors: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSurgery is one of the key therapeutic modalities for cancers such as breast and colon cancer. Researchers claim that poorly managed anxiety slows recovery in postsurgical cancer patients and requires proactive management, including mind-body therapies like music therapy, which may further help reduce opioid consumption. In this study, we aimed to assess the efficacy of music therapy in reducing anxiety, depression, stress, and pain among postsurgical cancer patients over two weeks.
methodsThis was a randomized, open-label parallel design trial with a sample size of 44 participants divided into two groups: an intervention group A (n = 22) that received music therapy along with the standard treatment regimen, and a control group B (n = 22) that only received the standard treatment regimen. We used curated music tracks. We assessed anxiety and other psychological symptoms (depression and stress) using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) and analyzed pain symptoms using the visual analog scale (VAS) at baseline and after two weeks.
resultsAfter the two-week period of music therapy as an adjuvant, we observed a significant reduction in anxiety scores (1.73; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.0817 to 3.37; p = 0.040; Cohen's d = 1.35) in the intervention group compared to the control group. For depression (1.09; 95% CI: -0.26 to 2.81; p = 0.207; Cohen's d = 1.04) and pain (0.273; 95% CI: -1.23 to 1.77; p = 0.716; Cohen's d = 0.42), scores in the intervention group also showed reductions compared to the control group, although these were statistically not significant.
conclusionOur findings suggest a significant improvement in anxiety scores with two weeks of adjuvant music therapy. Thus, music can be used as a non-invasive adjunctive therapeutic to manage anxiety symptoms in postoperative cancer patients. We recommend further studies on music therapy as an adjuvant treatment for patients with cancer undergoing palliative care.
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