The effects of music therapy on vital signs, feeding, and sleep in premature infants
Loewy J, Stewart K, Dassler AM, Telsey A, Homel P
Pediatrics · 211 citations
Review labels
Neutral facts our review recorded about how this study was done. They describe method, never whether we like the result.
How it was studied
- Design
- Randomized controlled trial (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Funding not disclosed
Publication
- Published
- 2013-04-15 · Pediatrics · vol. 131 · issue 5 · pp. 902–918
- Publisher
- American Academy of Pediatrics
- Cited
- 497 citations · more than 100% of similar papers · 41.2× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 72 works
- Access
- Paywalled
- Research areas
- Infant Development and Preterm Care · Music Therapy and Health · Infant Health and Development
- Keywords
- Medicine, Psychological intervention, Music therapy, Heart rate, Rhythm, Pediatrics, Gestational age, Randomized controlled trial, Physical therapy, Internal medicine, Pregnancy, Blood pressure, Psychiatry
- MeSH
- humans, weight gain, facial expression, treatment outcome, music therapy, critical care, linear models, follow-up studies, cross-over studies, infant behavior, sucking behavior, child development, sleep, reference values, infant food, video recording, infant, newborn, infant, premature, intensive care units, neonatal, female, male, vital signs
5 authors
From US
- Joanne V. Loewy · corresponding
- Kristen Stewart
- Ann-Marie Dassler
- Aimee Telsey
- Peter HomelMount Sinai Beth Israel
Abstract
Objectives
Recorded music risks overstimulation in NICUs. The live elements of music such as rhythm, breath, and parent-preferred lullabies may affect physiologic function (eg, heart and respiratory rates, O2 saturation levels, and activity levels) and developmental function (eg, sleep, feeding behavior, and weight gain) in premature infants.
Methods
A randomized clinical multisite trial of 272 premature infants aged ≥32 weeks with respiratory distress syndrome, clinical sepsis, and/or SGA (small for gestational age) served as their own controls in 11 NICUs. Infants received 3 interventions per week within a 2-week period, when data of physiologic and developmental domains were collected before, during, and after the interventions or no interventions and daily during a 2-week period.
Results
Three live music interventions showed changes in heart rate interactive with time. Lower heart rates occurred during the lullaby (P < .001) and rhythm intervention (P = .04). Sucking behavior showed differences with rhythm sound interventions (P = .03). Entrained breath sounds rendered lower heart rates after the intervention (P = .04) and differences in sleep patterns (P < .001). Caloric intake (P = .01) and sucking behavior (P = .02) were higher with parent-preferred lullabies. Music decreased parental stress perception (P < .001).
Conclusions
The informed, intentional therapeutic use of live sound and parent-preferred lullabies applied by a certified music therapist can influence cardiac and respiratory function. Entrained with a premature infant's observed vital signs, sound and lullaby may improve feeding behaviors and sucking patterns and may increase prolonged periods of quiet-alert states. Parent-preferred lullabies, sung live, can enhance bonding, thus decreasing the stress parents associate with premature infant care.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher.
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