The Impact of Music Intervention on COVID-19 Patients with Mental Disorders: A Protocol for a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract Background: The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus is a major health crisis that is affecting countries across the world. Patients infected with COVID-19 are often associated with mental health disorders, such as anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders. As a non-drug therapy applied in clinics for many years, music intervention is safe, effective, inexpensive, and devoid of side effects. Yet, there is a distinct lack of evidence to support the use of this technique. In this study, we aim to collect and evaluate the clinical evidence, in order to provide a basis for the efficacy and safety of music intervention in the treatment of COVID-19 patients with mental disorders.Methods: We plan to search a range of electronic databases from inception to the May 2021, including PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, and Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database (VIP). All randomized controlled trials featuring music intervention to treat mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, or sleep disorders, for patients with COVID-19, will be included. The primary outcomes will be quantitative scores for anxiety, depression, and sleep disorder. The secondary outcomes will be quality of life and the safety profile of music intervention, including adverse events. Two reviewers will carry out the selection of studies, data extraction independently. The Cochrane risk of bias tool will be used to evaluate the risk of bias for the studies. We will use Review Manager V.5.3 software for data analysis. Subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses are planned to assess the heterogeneity and reliability.Discussion: This is an up-to-date systematic review and meta-analysis of the efficacy and safety of music intervention on mental disorders (anxiety, depression, or sleep disorder) in COVID-19 patients, in order to provide clinicians, researchers, and policy makers, with powerful reference guidelines to facilitate treatment and improve the quality of life in COVID-19 patients with mental disorders.Systematic review registration: OSF 10.17605/OSF.IO/9RCX5