Can music and medicine be effective on anxiety, depression and chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting? (PEGASUS study)

Abstract

Background: Music and medicine can be used in patients with cancer as a palliative complementary therapy. It is aimed to show the effect of music therapy performed on anxiety, depression, and chemotherapy-related nausea/vomiting. Methods: A total of 62 patients with colon cancer who previously experienced grade 1 or 2 chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting were divided into two groups as intervention and control group based on the addition of music and medicine to infusion chemotherapies and 1:1 randomized. The groups were compared in terms of the effect of music and medicine on anxiety, depression, heart rate, blood pressure, and chemotherapy-related nausea-vomiting. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 19.0. A value of P < 0.05 was found statistically significant. Results: The patients were evaluated in terms of study variables at the beginning and after the completion of a chemotherapy session. As a result, there was a significant decrease in systolic blood pressure (P = 0.042), diastolic blood pressure (P = 0.44), heart rate (P = 0.046), state and trait sections of the state-trait anxiety inventory scores (P = 0.047 and P = 0.046, respectively), as well as a significant decrease in anxiety degree (P = 0.036) and a significant improvement in chemotherapy-related nausea (P = 0.021) and vomiting (P = 0.038) experience in the intervention group. However, no significant effect of music and medicine on depression was detected (P = 0.218). Conclusion: Although it has not been shown to have an effect on depression, it was concluded that music and medicine with classical music integrated into the chemotherapy session can reduce the degree of nausea/vomiting and anxiety levels.