The effect of music therapy on chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in women with breast cancer

Background: Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) is an unavoidable side effect that affects the quality of life (QoL) and treatment compliance in patients with cancer. While the positive effect of music therapy in many clinical settings has been published, little information is available on the relieving effect of music therapy on CINV. Aim: To evaluate the effect of music therapy on the frequency and severity of CINV in women with breast cancer. Methods: Sixty patients were equally randomized to experimental (music therapy) and control (routine care) groups. One hundred and forty-eight instrumental, relaxation, and religious records were provided to be delivered by a headphone connected to an MP3 player. The intervention consisted of five 25-minute sessions supervised by trained nurses to provide the patient's favorite music, volume, and timing arrangement. A 0-10 visual analog scale (VAS) and the 4-point Likert scale were used to measure the severity of nausea. Frequencies were also asked and recorded. The study endpoints were before, during, and after (8-hours, 16-hours, and 24-hours) chemotherapy. Results: The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the frequency and severity of CINV increased significantly over the first 24 hours after chemotherapy in both groups. The difference between music therapy and control groups was statistically significant with regard to the median of the frequency of nausea (5.92 versus 12.34), frequency of vomiting (4.55 versus 9.95), the severity of nausea (1.26 versus 3.27), and severity of vomiting (1.06 versus 2.53). Conclusion: This study supports the idea of incorporating music therapy into the healing process after chemotherapy in women with breast cancer.