Music Therapy for Preoperative Anxiety Reduction in Women Undergoing Total Laparoscopic Hysterectomy: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Study Objective: To assess the superiority of a music therapy intervention (Music) vs usual care (Control) in reducing the preoperative anxiety of patients undergoing total laparoscopic hysterectomy (TLH) with nononcologic indications. Design: This was a 1:2 (Music vs Control) randomized controlled study. Setting: A teaching hospital. Patients: One hundred patients were available for the analysis: 30 and 70 in the Music and Control arms, respectively. Interventions: Perioperative music therapy pathway in patients undergoing TLH for benign disease. Measurements and Main Results: Anxiety was evaluated with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Y Form (STAI-Y) at different time points: at baseline and during preoperative, early postoperative, and late postoperative periods. Pathologic anxiety was defined as STAI-Y state >45. Postoperative pain was registered using the visual analog scale. Women in the Music arm experienced lower anxiety levels (median STAI-Y scores 38.0 vs 41.0; p = .002) during the preoperative period. STAI-Y scores did not vary significantly by intervention at each subsequent time point. A significant difference between the groups (Music vs Control) was found in the proportion of women with pathologic anxiety during the preoperative (16.7% vs 37.2%; p = .04) and early postoperative periods (0% vs 12.9%; p = .04), whereas no significant difference between the groups was registered during the late postoperative period (6.6% vs 7.1%; p = .93). Postoperative pain intensity did not significantly differ between the groups at 1, 3, and 6 hours after surgery. Conclusions: Music therapy might be a viable complementary modality to usual surgical care in the gynecologic setting for its ability to significantly decrease preoperative anxiety in women undergoing TLH for benign conditions.