Effects of Music Therapy on Physiological Indicators and Subjective Comfort in Patients Undergoing Large Medical Imaging Examinations: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Li Z, Wu T, Fu H
Journal of medical imaging and radiation oncology · 0 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
- Meta-analysis (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Funding not disclosed
Publication
- Published
- 2026-08-19 · J Med Imaging Radiat Oncol · vol. 70 · issue 6 · pp. 530–538
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Cited
- 0 citations · more than 67% of similar papers · 0.0× the field average
- References
- 21 works
- Access
- Open access (repository copy)
- Research areas
- Music Therapy and Health · Acupuncture Treatment Research Studies · Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Keywords
- Music therapy, Anxiety, Psychological intervention, Depression (economics), Meta-analysis, Medical therapy, MEDLINE
- MeSH
- humans, diagnostic imaging, music therapy, depression, anxiety, heart rate
3 authors
From CN
- Zefang Li · correspondingShaoxing Second Hospital
- Tiexiong WuShaoxing Second Hospital
- Haina FuShaoxing Second Hospital
Abstract
Objective
To systematically evaluate the effects of music therapy on physiological indicators and psychological states in patients undergoing large medical imaging examinations, providing evidence-based support for clinical auxiliary interventions.
Methods
A comprehensive literature search was conducted across English and Chinese databases, including PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang Database, and VIP Database, from inception to May 2026. RCTs investigating music therapy interventions in patients undergoing medical imaging examinations were collected. Two independent reviewers performed literature screening, data extraction, and quality assessment. A meta-analysis was conducted on outcome indicators including heart rate, anxiety scores, depression scores, and examination cooperation rate. Heterogeneity among studies was evaluated using the I2 statistic.
Results
A total of 9 RCTs were included. The meta-analysis results demonstrated that music therapy significantly reduced patients' heart rates, with a pooled mean difference (MD) of -2.14 (95% CI: -2.21, -2.08; p < 0.05). It also significantly alleviated anxiety levels, with a pooled SMD of -1.43 (95% CI: -1.49, -1.38; p < 0.05). The analysis of depression scores indicated no statistically significant difference between the two groups (SMD = 0.11, 95% CI: -0.62, 0.84; p = 0.77). The analysis of examination cooperation rates showed that music therapy improved the examination cooperation rate, with a pooled risk ratio (RR) of 1.34 (95% CI: 1.28, 1.40; p < 0.05). High heterogeneity was observed in certain outcome indicators.
Conclusion
Music therapy can, to a certain extent, improve the physiological and psychological states of patients undergoing medical imaging examinations, as manifested by reduced heart rates, alleviated anxiety, and an increased examination cooperation rate. However, its efficacy in improving depressive states remains unclear. Given the high heterogeneity in some analytical results, further large-sample, high-quality RCTs are required for verification.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher.
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