Music therapy improves sleep quality

Music therapy improves sleep quality in acute and chronic sleep disorders: A meta-analysis of 10

randomized studies.

OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate the efficacy of music therapy for acute and chronic sleep disorders in adults.

DESIGN:

Systematic review and meta-analysis.

DATA SOURCES:

A systematic search of publications in PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library without language restriction was performed.

REVIEW METHODS:

Studies with randomized controlled design and adult participants were included if music was applied in a passive way to improvesleep quality. Subgroup analysis was conducted to explore the sources of heterogeneity.

RESULTS:

Ten studies involving 557 participants were identified. The sleep quality was improved significantly by music (standard mean difference: -0.63; 95% CI: -0.92 to -0.34; p<0.001), with significant heterogeneity across studies. Subgroup analysis found heterogeneity between subgroups with objective or subjective assessing methods of sleep quality, and between subgroups with difference follow-up durations. No evidence of publication bias was observed.

CONCLUSION:

Music can assist in improving sleep quality of patients with acute and chronic sleep disorders. For chronic sleep disorders, musicshowed a cumulative dose effect and a follow-up duration more than three weeks is necessary for assessing its efficacy.

Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

KEYWORDS:

Meta-analysis, Music, Sleep disorders, Sleep quality