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. (C) 2021 AAGL. All rights reserved.