Trial reportScientific reports2026
Effectiveness of an interactive music tablet intervention to reduce procedural anxiety in children: a randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Scientific reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Procedural anxiety in children is common and associated with maladaptive behavior, reduced cooperation, and increased perioperative stress. Although music-based interventions show promise, few are designed for routine clinical care. We evaluated an interactive tablet-based music intervention ("MuMa") for reducing procedural anxiety in children aged 3-11 undergoing elective surgery. We conducted a single-center, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial including 80 children undergoing elective surgery and their caregivers. Participants were randomized to receive the MuMa intervention preoperatively or standard care. Primary outcomes were child (modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale) and caregiver anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), assessed before and after the intervention. Secondary outcomes included heart rate variability, compliance during anesthesia induction, postoperative agitation, and behavioral changes at 1, 4, and 12 weeks post-procedure. Trial registration: German Clinical Trials Registry (DRKS00027873), registered 13 May 2022. Here we show that the intervention reduces preoperative anxiety by 38% (standardized mean difference -0.8; 95% CI -1.2 to -0.3) and integrates readily into routine perioperative workflows. Effects are greatest in children with high baseline anxiety (SMD -1.7; 95% CI -2.8 to -0.5) and in those aged 3-6 years (SMD -0.9; 95% CI -1.5 to -0.3). No clinically relevant differences are observed for secondary outcomes. This interactive music intervention significantly reduces procedural anxiety in children, particularly among younger participants and those with high baseline anxiety. Its low resource requirements and ease of implementation support its potential as a scalable non-pharmacological strategy in pediatric perioperative care. Further research should evaluate its generalizability across diverse settings.
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.