Listening to music eases anxiety during catheter placement

Patients undergoing venous catheter placements may benefit from listening to music, which significantly reduces their anxiety and stress levels, leading to a better overall experience, a recent study has found.

Researchers conducted a prospective randomized controlled trial, enrolling 72 eligible participants who were assigned to a music intervention group (MIG; N=42) or control (n=32). MIG participants were allowed to choose the type of music they wanted to listen to, which was then played in the surgical suite during their procedure at a volume of around 50 dB.

The primary psychological outcomes were measured using the state-trait anxiety inventory (STAI), which was administered before and after the procedure. Secondary outcomes included average heart rate and time of radiological surveillance.

Before surgery, STAI was only slightly lower in MIG participants, but was not statistically different from that in controls (p=0174). After the intervention, mean STAI scores dropped significantly in both the control (50.8 to 44.0; mean difference [MD], 6.8; p=0.001) and MIG (46.7 to 34.9; MD, 11.8; p<0.001) groups.

Unpaired-samples t-test, however, showed that postprocedural anxiety scores were significantly lower in MIG than controls, with a score difference of 9.0 (p<0.001). Analysis of variance confirmed these findings, with music reducing anxiety by a mean of 6.9 item scores (p<0.001).

Similarly, music significantly lowered heart rate during the procedure, with an average value of 76.1 bpm In MIG patients as opposed to 93 bpm in controls (p<0.001).

“Music can act as a safe, easily applicable, free of charge, and noninvasive aid to reduce anxiety in the perioperative setting to improve quality of care,” the researchers said. “[W]e believe our findings are of high clinical relevance beyond the field of interventional radiology.”