title: Music therapy improves sleep quality in acute and chronic sleep disorders: a meta-analysis of 10 randomized studies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the efficacy of music therapy for acute and chronic sleep disorders in adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  Systematic review and meta-analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic search of publications in PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library without language restriction was performed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Studies with randomized controlled design and adult participants were included if music was applied in a passive way to improve sleep quality. Subgroup analysis was conducted to explore the sources of heterogeneity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ten studies involving 557 participants were identified. The sleep quality was improved significantly by music (standard mean difference: -0.63; 95% CI: -0.92 to -0.34; p<0.001), with significant heterogeneity across studies. Subgroup analysis found heterogeneity between subgroups with objective or subjective assessing methods of sleep quality, and between subgroups with difference follow-up durations. No evidence of publication bias was observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Music can assist in improving sleep quality of patients with acute and chronic sleep disorders. For chronic sleep disorders, music showed a cumulative dose effect and a follow-up duration more than three weeks is necessary for assessing its efficacy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Center for Cardiovascular Disease, Pingjin Hospital, Logistics University of Chinese People's Armed Police Forces, Tianjin, PR China. Electronic address: wangchunfangemail@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Chun-Fang
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ying-Li
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Hong-Xin
authors.initials: HX
authors.lastname: Zang
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006801:Humans; D009147:Music Therapy; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: Meta-analysis; Music; Sleep disorders; Sleep quality