Mexican scientists discover music can help ‘critically ill’ patients heal

By Stephen Beech

Music hits the right note by helping critically ill heart patients to heal, reveals new research.

Doctors found that music therapy saw decreased heart rate and blood pressure among adults admitted to a hospital cardiac intensive care unit (ICU).

Music therapy is the use of music and its elements to reduce stress and improve quality of life.

It is used as a drug-free method to improve a patient's physical, social, communicative, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual health and well-being.

The new study's goal was to analyze music therapy’s impact on coronary care patients in an ICU.

The Mexican research team monitored physiological variables in 24 patients admitted to the cardiac ICU between July and September last year.

Participants were aged at least 18 and had no hearing impairments.

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Each patient was assigned to either a music therapy group or a control group with standard care.

A melody was presented to the patients In the music therapy group for 45 minutes at 15 decibels for five days.

The results showed that patients in the music therapy group had a "significant" decrease in heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and patient–ventilator problems, compared to the patients in the control group.

Study first author Dr. Ilani Paola Santoyo Pérez said: “Music therapy has beneficial effects on physiological distress variables such as heart rate and blood pressure, suggesting that music therapy can be a non-pharmacological and non-invasive intervention to improve physiological stability in a high-stress setting such as the cardiac intensive care unit."

Dr. Pérez, of the University of Guanajuato in León, added: “Music therapy is recognised as a standard of care for critically ill patients worldwide, as established in the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) guidelines.

"Clinicians should therefore consider incorporating music therapy into their practice, as it is a safe, low-cost, non-pharmacological and non-invasive intervention that complements conventional treatments.

“By reducing physiological distress, enhancing patient comfort, and promoting holistic, patient-centred care, music therapy ultimately improves both the patient experience and clinical outcomes.”

The findings were presented at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Latin America conference in Mexico City.