Effects of music on anxiety and physiological responses in patients before gastroscopy

Background: Preprocedural anxiety is a common problem in patients undergoing surgery or an invasive examination. This study investigated listening to self-selected music on anxiety and physiological responses in patients before gastroscopy. Aim: The study was to explore the effects of listening to music on anxiety and physiological responses before gastroscopy. Methods: A pretest-posttest control group design was conducted, in which patients scheduled for gastroscopy in a medical center located in Taipei, Taiwan, were enrolled. The participants were randomly assigned to the music group (n = 100) or the control group (n = 100) by drawing lots. The music group listened to self-selected music with earphones for 15 min before the procedure. In contrast, the control group rested for 15 min. Blood pressure (BP), heart rate, respiratory rate, and anxiety level were measured immediately before and after the music intervention. Results: After adjusting for covariates, anxiety (P = 0.003) and respiratory rate (P = 0.01) significantly decreased in the music group than in the control group. However, no statistical difference in BP and heart rate changes was observed between the two groups. Listening to music could effectively reduce anxiety in patients who believed in the relaxing effects of music. Conclusion: Listening to self-selected music could effectively reduce the patients' anxiety and respiratory rate before gastroscopy, which could be recommended as a routine practice to alleviate patients' anxiety and physiological arousal before gastroscopy.