Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2020 Jan;28(1):351-360.
doi: 10.1007/s00520-019-04817-x. Epub 2019 May 2.

Music, heart rate variability, and symptom clusters: a comparative study

Shu-Chuan Chen  1   2 , Ming-Lee Yeh  3 , Hsiu-Ju Chang  4 , Mei-Feng Lin  5
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Music, heart rate variability, and symptom clusters: a comparative study

Shu-Chuan Chen et al. Support Care Cancer. 2020 Jan.

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the possible range of change of a single-session music intervention (SMI) on symptom clusters and neurological reactivity for women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy.

Methods: A parallel and randomized, controlled study with repeated measures design was used. A total of 100 women with breast cancer were randomly assigned to the SMI or a control group. The outcome measurements of symptom cluster were collected using the Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the neurological reactivity with heart rate variability at four time points: before commencement of the intervention (T0), immediately afterward (T1), 1 week later (T2), and 3 weeks after the intervention (T3).

Results: Of the 50 women in each group, 46 in the SMI and 48 in the control group completed the post-test at T3. Multivariate analysis of variance indicated that the SMI group had a medium effect in change of symptom clusters compared to the control group at T2. Moreover, after adjusting for baseline between normal and higher levels of sympathetic tone activity, significant differences existed in fatigue and depression at T2 and sleep disturbance at T3.

Conclusions: A single-session music intervention can be effectively used to reduce symptom clusters for women with breast cancer. Targeting those who have a higher level of sympathetic tone activity is recommended.

Keywords: Anxiety; Breast cancer; Depression; Fatigue; Sleep; Sympathetic tone activity.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. World Health Organization (2018) Breast cancer: prevention and control. http://www.who.int/cancer/detection/breastcancer/en/index1.html . Accessed 05 June 2018
    1. Early Breast Cancer Trialists’ Collaborative Group (EBCTCG) (2018) Long-term outcomes for neoadjuvant versus adjuvant chemotherapy in early breast cancer: meta-analysis of individual patient data from ten randomised trials. Lancet Oncol 19(1):27–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1470-2045(17)30777-5 - DOI
    1. Ho S-Y, Rohan KJ, Parent J, Tager FA, McKinley PS (2015) A longitudinal study of depression, fatigue, and sleep disturbances as a symptom cluster in women with breast cancer. J Pain Symptom Manag 49(4):707–715. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2014.09.009 - DOI
    1. Nguyen J, Cramarossa G, Bruner D, Chen E, Khan L, Leung A, Lutz S, Chow E (2011) A literature review of symptom clusters in patients with breast cancer. Expert Rev Pharmacoecon Outcomes Res 11(5):533–539. https://doi.org/10.1586/erp.11.55 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Dodd MJ, Miaskowski C, Paul SM (2001) Symptom clusters and their effect on the functional status of patients with cancer. Oncol Nurs Forum 28(3):465–470 - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources