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Music interventions for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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Abstract

Background

Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) is the most common and severe side effects brought by chemotherapeutics. The role of music interventions in relieving CINV is uncertain. The aim of this systematic review was to test the effects of music interventions on three categories of CINV.

Methods

A systematic search was conducted in Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PubMed, EMBASE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WanFang, and Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM) in order to capture randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the comparative efficacy of music interventions and others. Two investigators screened, sorted, and extracted the data, and appraised the risk of bias. All statistical analyses were performed using RevMan 5.3 software.

Results

The literature search yielded 608 studies of which only ten RCTs fulfilled the eligibility criteria with 632 patients retrieved. Although the duration, the frequency of interventions, and the type of selected music varied across studies, commonly used elements included music listening. Results showed that music interventions were associated with reducing the incidence of anticipatory CINV and lowering the severity of delayed vomiting (MD = − 0.65, 95% CI = − 1.08 to − 0.23). However, strongly controversial results existed in terms of reducing the incidence of acute and delayed CINV, the severity of acute CINV, the severity of delayed nausea, and improving patients’ quality of life.

Conclusions

Music interventions may effectively reduce the incidence of anticipatory CINV and relieve the severity of delayed vomiting in patients with chemotherapy based on limited data. However, the conclusion should be interpreted with caution and further research is required to design with large-scale and rigorous methods.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association Oncologic Nursing Committee who offered great support for the development of this review.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, The Third Department of Breast Surgery, Tianjin’s Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin, China

    Ting-ting Wei

  2. Chongqing Key Laboratory of Translational Research for Cancer Metastasis and Individualized Treatment, Department of Gastroenterology, Chongqing University Cancer Hospital, Chongqing, China

    Xu Tian

  3. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Nursing Department, Tianjin’s Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin, China

    Fang-yuan Zhang & Wan-min Qiang

  4. Beichen District Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Tianjin, China

    Ai-li Bai

Authors
  1. Ting-ting Wei
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  2. Xu Tian
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  3. Fang-yuan Zhang
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  4. Wan-min Qiang
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Correspondence to Wan-min Qiang.

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Appendix

Appendix

Database

Search strategies

Number

CINAHL

S1 MJ chemotherapy

S2 SU Therapy, Drug OR SU Drug Therap* OR SU Therapies, Drug OR SU Chemotherap* OR SU Pharmacotherap* OR SU Pharmacologic therap*

S3 MJ nausea OR MJ vomiting

S4 SU nausea OR SU Antiemetic* OR SU Emetic* OR SU Emesis OR SU Vomiting

S5 Chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting OR Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting OR CINV

S6 MJ Music OR MJ Music Therapy

S7 SU music* OR SU Music Therapy OR SU melod* OR SU sing OR SU sings OR SU singing OR SU song* OR SU improvis* OR SU compose OR SU composing ber

S8 S1 OR S2

S9 (S1 OR S2) AND (S3 OR S4)

S10 S5 OR S9

S11 S6 OR S7

S14 S10 AND S11

20#

CENTRAL (of Cochrane library)

#1 MeSH descriptor: [Drug Therapy] explode all trees

#2 MeSH descriptor: [Nausea] explode all trees

#3 MeSH descriptor: [Vomiting] explode all trees

#4 pharmacologic therap*

#5 Nausea or Antiemetic* or Emetic* or Emesis or Vomiting

#6 Therapy, Drug or Drug Therap* or Therapies, Drug or Chemotherap* or Pharmacotherap*

#7 #1 or #4 or #6

#8 #2 or #3 or #5

#9 #7 and #8

#10 Chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting or Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting or CINV

#11 #9 or #10

#12 MeSH descriptor: [Randomized Controlled Trial] explode all trees

#13 random*

#14 #12 or #13

#15 MeSH descriptor: [Music] explode all trees

#16 MeSH descriptor: [Music Therapy] explode all trees

#17 (music*) OR (music therapy) OR (melod*) OR (sing) OR (sings)

#18 (singing) OR (song*) OR (improvis*) OR (compose) OR (composing)

#19 #15 OR #16 OR #17 OR #18

#20 #11 AND #14 AND #19

317#

Pubmed

Search ((((((((((((music*) OR melod*) OR Music Therapy) OR sing) OR sings) OR singing) OR improvis*) OR song*)) OR (“Music”[Mesh] OR “Music Therapy”[Mesh]))) AND ((random*) OR (“Randomized Controlled Trial” [Publication Type] OR “Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic”[Mesh]))) AND (((((Chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting)) OR (Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting)) OR CINV) OR (((((“Drug Therapy”[Mesh] OR “drug therapy” [Subheading])) OR ((((((((Therapy, Drug) OR Drug Therapies) OR Therapies, Drug) OR Chemotherapy) OR Chemotherapies) OR Pharmacotherapy) OR Pharmacotherapies) OR pharmacologic therapy))) AND ((((“Nausea”[Mesh]) OR “Vomiting”[Mesh])) OR (((((Nausea) OR Antiemetics) OR Emetics) OR Emesis) OR Vomiting))))

167#

EMBASE

#1’chemotherapy’/exp

#2’nausea’/exp

#3’vomiting’/exp

#4’therapy, drug’:ti,ab,kw OR ‘drug therap*’:ti,ab,kw OR ‘therapies, drug’:ti,ab,kw OR ‘chemotherap*’:ti,ab,kw OR ‘pharmacotherap*’:ti,ab,kw OR ‘pharmacologic therap*’:ti,ab,kw

#5’nausea’:ti,ab,kw OR ‘antiemetic*’:ti,ab,kw OR ‘emetic*’:ti,ab,kw OR ‘emesis’:ti,ab,kw OR ‘vomiting’:ti,ab,kw

#6’chemotherapy induced nausea’:ti,ab,kw AND ‘vomiting’:ti,ab,kw OR (‘chemotherapy-induced nausea’:ti,ab,kw AND ‘vomiting’:ti,ab,kw) OR ‘cinv’:ti,ab,kw

#7#1 OR #4

#8#2 OR #3 OR #5

#9#7 AND #8

#10#6 OR #9

#11 ‘music’/exp. OR ‘music therapy’/exp

#12 music*:ti,ab,kw OR ‘music therapy’:ti,ab,kw OR melod*:ti,ab,kw OR sing:ti,ab,kw OR sings:ti,ab,kw OR singing:ti,ab,kw OR song*:ti,ab,kw OR improvis*:ti,ab,kw OR compose:ti,ab,kw OR composing:ti,ab,kw

#13#11 OR #12

#14’randomized controlled trial (topic)’/exp

#15’random*’:ti,ab,kw

#16 #14 OR #15

#17 #10 AND #13 AND #16

28#

CNKI (中国知网)

#1 化疗[主题] or化学疗法[主题] or药物疗法[主题] or药物治疗[主题]

#2 干呕[主题] or恶心[主题] or呕吐[主题]

#3 音乐[主题] or音乐疗法[主题] or音乐治疗[主题]

#4 随机[全文]

#5 #1 and #2 and #3 and #4

19#

WanFang MED Online (万方数据库)

#1化疗[全部字段] or化学疗法[全部字段] or药物治疗[全部字段] or药物疗法[全部字段]

#2干呕[全部字段] or恶心[全部字段]or呕吐[全部字段]

#3音乐[全部字段] or音乐疗法[全部字段] or音乐治疗[全部字段]

#4 随机[全部字段]

#5 #1 and #2 and #3 and #4

32#

CBM (中国生物医学文献数据库)

((((“化疗”[全字段:智能]) OR “化学疗法”[全字段:智能]) OR “药物治疗”[全字段:智能]) OR “药物疗法”[全字段:智能])AND(((“恶心”[全字段:智能]) OR “干呕”[全字段:智能]) OR “呕吐”[全字段:智能])AND(((“音乐”[全字段:智能]) OR “音乐治疗”[全字段:智能]) OR “音乐疗法”[全字段:智能]) AND(“随机”[全字段:智能])

20#

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Wei, Tt., Tian, X., Zhang, Fy. et al. Music interventions for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Support Care Cancer 28, 4031–4041 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05409-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05409-w

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