Music therapy effectiveness by duration in patients with cancer: a meta-regression

Several reviews and meta-analyses have reported on music therapy for physical and emotional well-being among patients with cancer. However, the duration of music therapy offered may range from less than 1 hour to several hours. The aim of this study is to assess whether longer duration of music therapy is associated with different levels of improvement in physical and mental well-being.

Ten studies were included in this paper, reporting on the endpoints of quality of life and pain. A meta-regression, using an inverse-variance model, was performed to assess the impact of total music therapy time. A sensitivity analysis was conducted for the outcome of pain, among low risk of bias trials.

Our meta-regression found a trend for positive association between greater total music therapy time and improved better pain control, but it was not statistically significant.

There is a need for more high-quality studies examining music therapy for patients with cancer, with a focus on total music therapy time and patient-related outcomes including quality of life and pain.