Systematic review and meta-analysis of music interventions in hypertension treatment: a quest for answers.
BACKGROUND
Adverse effects, treatment resistance and high costs associated with pharmacological treatment of hypertension have led to growing interest in non-pharmacological complementary therapies such as music interventions. This meta-analysis aims to provide an overview of reported evidence on the efficacy of music interventions in the treatment of hypertension.


METHODS
A systematic literature search was conducted for publications on the effect of music interventions on blood pressure in adult hypertensive subjects published between January 1990-June 2014. Randomized controlled trials with a follow-up duration ≥28 days were included. Blood pressure measures were pooled using inverse variance weighting.


RESULTS
Of the 1689 abstracts reviewed, 10 randomized controlled trials were included. Random-effects pooling of the music intervention groups showed a trend toward a decrease in mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) from 144 mmHg(95 % CI:137-152) to 134 mmHg(95 % CI:124-144), and in mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP) from 84 mmHg(95 % CI:78-89) to 78 mmHg(95 % CI:73-84). Fixed-effect analysis of a subgroup of 3 trials with valid control groups showed a significant decrease in pooled mean SBP and DBP in both intervention and control groups. A comparison between music intervention groups and control groups was not possible due to unavailable measures of dispersion.


CONCLUSIONS
This systematic review and meta-analysis revealed a trend towards a decrease in blood pressure in hypertensive patients who received music interventions, but failed to establish a cause-effect relationship between music interventions and blood pressure reduction. Considering the potential value of this safe, low-cost intervention, well-designed, high quality and sufficiently powered randomized studies assessing the efficacy of music interventions in the treatment of hypertension are warranted.
Department of Pediatric Surgery, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Anne Y R
AY
Kühlmann
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Erasmus University Medical Center, P.O. Box 2040, 3000CA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Jonathan R G
JR
Etnel
Department of Cardiology, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Jolien W
JW
Roos-Hesselink
Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Johannes
J
Jeekel
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Erasmus University Medical Center, P.O. Box 2040, 3000CA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Ad J J C
AJ
Bogers
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Erasmus University Medical Center, P.O. Box 2040, 3000CA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. j.j.m.takkenberg@erasmusmc.nl.
Johanna J M
JJ
Takkenberg
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001794:Blood Pressure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009147:Music Therapy; D011788:Quality of Life; D016896:Treatment Outcome
Global health care delivery; Hypertension; Meta-analysis; Music intervention; Systemic review