Riassunto dello studio

Fifty patients scheduled to undergo a hip or knee arthroplasty were randomized to receive a combination of music therapy with prescribed analgesics (n=25) or prescribed analgesics alone (n=25) during their hospital stay and up to 2-days after discharge. Outcomes of interest included the following: pain intensity and pain distress which were both measured on a numeric rating scale (NRS), and total analgesic usage including both opioids and non-opioids. Pain intensity and distress were measured day of surgery, post-surgery days 1 and 2 in the hospital (in the morning, noon, and evening), and on post-discharge days 1 and 2 (in the morning, noon, and evening). Total analgesic usage was measured during their hospital stay at day 1 and day 2, as well as post-discharge days 1 and day 2. Results demonstrated that for analgesic consumption, no statistical significant differences were observed between the music therapy plus analgesia group compared to analgesic only group for both opioid and non-opioid medications (p>0.05 for both). Moreover, for pain intensity, scores were statistically significantly lower in the music group on post-surgery day 1 in the morning (p=0.04) and at noon (p=0.01), but not except for evening (p= 0.21). Furthermore, pain intensity scores were statistically significantly lower in the music group in the morning, noon, and evening on post-discharge day 1 and 2 (p<0.05 for all). For pain distress scores, a similar trend was observed with respect to a statistically significantly reduced score in the music group on post-surgery day 1 for morning (p=0.02) and noon (p=0.01), but not in the evening. Pain distress scores on the morning of post-surgery day 2 was also statistically significant lower in the music group (p=0.003). Post-discharge, pain distress scores were lower for post-discharge days 1 and 2 in the evenings (p=0.03 for both), as well as in the morning of post-discharge day 2 (p=0.04).