title: Mozart's music in children with drug-refractory epileptic encephalopathies.
abstract: Mozart's sonata for two pianos in D major, K448, has been shown to decrease interictal EEG discharges and recurrence of clinical seizures in both adults and young patients. In this prospective, open-label study, we evaluated the effect of listening to a set of Mozart's compositions, according to the Tomatis method, on sleep quality and behavioral disorders, including auto-/hetero-aggression, irritability, and hyperactivity, in a group of children and adolescents with drug-resistant epilepsy. The study group was composed of 11 outpatients (7 males and 4 females), between 1.5years and 21years of age (mean age: 11.9years), all suffering from drug-resistant epileptic encephalopathy (n=11). All of them had a severe/profound intellectual disability associated with cerebral palsy. During the study period, each patient had to listen to a set of Mozart's compositions 2h per day for fifteen days for a total of 30h, which could be distributed over the day depending on the habits and compliance of each patient. The music was filtered by a device preferably delivering higher sound frequencies (>3000Hz) according to the Tomatis principles. The antiepileptic drug therapy remained unchanged throughout the study period. During the 15-day music therapy, 2 out of 11 patients had a reduction of 50-75% in seizure recurrence, and 3 out of 12 patients had a reduction of 75-89%. Overall, 5 (45.4%) out of 11 patients had a ≥50% reduction in the total number of seizures, while the percentage decrease of the total seizure number (11/11) compared with baseline was -51.5% during the 15-day music therapy and -20.7% in the two weeks after the end of treatment. All responders also had an improvement in nighttime sleep and daytime behavior.
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, Department of Medicine and Surgery, S. Giovanni di Dio and Ruggi d'Aragona Hospital, University of Salerno, Italy. Electronic address: gcoppola@unisa.it.
authors.forename: Giangennaro
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Coppola
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, Department of Medicine and Surgery, S. Giovanni di Dio and Ruggi d'Aragona Hospital, University of Salerno, Italy.
authors.forename: Annacarmela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Toro
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, Department of Medicine and Surgery, S. Giovanni di Dio and Ruggi d'Aragona Hospital, University of Salerno, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca Felicia
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Operto
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, Department of Medicine and Surgery, S. Giovanni di Dio and Ruggi d'Aragona Hospital, University of Salerno, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferrarioli
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, Department of Medicine and Surgery, S. Giovanni di Dio and Ruggi d'Aragona Hospital, University of Salerno, Italy.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pisano
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, Department of Medicine and Surgery, S. Giovanni di Dio and Ruggi d'Aragona Hospital, University of Salerno, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Viggiano
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Neurology, University of Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Verrotti
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009147:Music Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Behavior; Children; Drug-refractory epilepsy; Mozart's music; Seizure recurrence