Effect of Music on Outcomes of Birth Asphyxia: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Birth asphyxia may cause neuro-developmental impairment in the affected newborns especially those who had hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. Music therapy has been observed to help in reducing pain and stress in newborns and improve neurodevelopmental outcome.

The objective of this study is to determine the effects of music therapy on the outcomes of birth asphyxia.

A randomized controlled trial involving 3095 newborns born between January 2013 and August 2019 with birth asphyxia was conducted in the neonatal intensive care unit of Burdwan Medical College. They were distributed in two groups-A (received music therapy along with coventional management) and B (only received conventional management), using computer-generated randomization. Pain score was assessed during any painful procedure and the neurodevelopmental outcome was measured at 3rd, 6th, 12th, 18th and 24th months. p < 0.01 was considered statistically significant.

A total of 3095 newborns were included with a mean gestation of 34.3 ± 2.1 weeks and 56.7% of them were male. Mean hospital stay, oxygen dependency, requirement of mechanical ventilation and incidence of apnea were significantly lesser among newborns of group A. Newborns of group B showed a significantly higher mean pain score, whereas newborns in Group A exhibited significantly greater mental and motor neurodevelopmental quotients.

Music therapy was observed to help in reducing hospital stay, oxygen dependency, incidences of apnea, pain during procedures and also resulted in better neurodevelopmental outcome. However, before generalizing the findings, further multi-centric research should be undertaken.