Music decreases sedative requirements during spinal anesthesia

Area of Science:

• Anesthesiology
• Psychology
• Health Sciences

Background:

• Ambulatory surgery often induces significant patient anxiety.
• Managing perioperative anxiety is crucial for patient comfort and recovery.
• Spinal anesthesia is commonly used for ambulatory surgical procedures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of music on anxiety levels in outpatients undergoing spinal anesthesia.
• To determine if music influences perioperative sedative requirements (midazolam).
• To evaluate the correlation between two anxiety assessment tools: State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and visual analog scale (VAS 0-10).

Main Methods:

• Prospective study involving 50 unpremedicated outpatients undergoing spinal anesthesia.
• Patients were randomized into two groups: music group (Group I) and no music group (Group II).
• Anxiety levels were measured using STAI and VAS 0-10; patient-controlled IV midazolam was used for sedation.

Main Results:

• Music listening was associated with significantly lower midazolam requirements during surgery and the entire perioperative period (P < 0.05).
• No significant difference in anxiety levels (measured by STAI or VAS 0-10) was observed between the music and no-music groups.
• A moderate positive correlation was found between STAI and VAS 0-10 anxiety measures (Spearman's coefficient: 0.532–0.687).

Conclusions:

• Allowing patients to listen to music during surgery under spinal anesthesia can decrease sedative requirements.
• Music may be an effective non-pharmacological intervention to manage anxiety and reduce medication needs in ambulatory surgery.
• STAI and VAS 0-10 are moderately correlated anxiety measures, useful for perioperative assessment.