The impact of perioperative music on abdominal surgery patients’ experience of postoperative pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective Music interventions have been analysed for their use in many surgical specialties, but they have not yet been reviewed in relation to abdominal surgery. This systematic review and meta-analysis examines the effect that listening to music perioperatively has on the postoperative pain of abdominal surgery patients. Methods A systematic search of PubMed, Cochrane Library and Scopus was undertaken to identify randomised controlled trials comparing a music intervention with standard care, where self-reported postoperative pain was included as an outcome. Study quality was then assessed by the author in conjunction with Robot Reviewer software based on the Cochrane bias methodology, and a meta-analysis was performed using standard mean difference and a random-effects model. Results Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria for review, and eight studies (2217 subjects) had appropriate data reporting to be included in the meta-analysis. Half of the reviewed studies concluded a significant positive impact on postoperative pain and the meta-analysis reinforced this hypothesis (p < 0.001). There was minimal difference in impact between intra and postoperative interventions, or between patient or researcher selected music. Conclusions This review supports the use of music in the perioperative period for abdominal surgery patients as a low cost adjunct to pharmaceutical pain relief.