Music during needle biopsy showed favorable pain and anxiety results
A review reported lower pain and anxiety with music during biopsy procedures. The abstract omits comparison conditions and effect sizes, leaving the size and practical meaning of the changes unclear.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
In pooled biopsy studies, music interventions were associated with statistically significant reductions in anxiety and pain. Favorable results were reported across age groups, with particular findings in prostate and bone marrow procedures. However, the abstract gives no effect sizes or control conditions, so it cannot establish how noticeable the changes were or how music compared with specific alternatives.
The abstract does not report participant totals, pain or anxiety scales, effect sizes, or uncertainty intervals. Its authors call for larger, higher-quality randomized trials to strengthen the evidence supporting the findings.
The procedure sets the context
The question was whether music could reduce anxiety and pain surrounding a biopsy. The review's results concern this procedural setting. They do not establish an effect on ongoing pain outside biopsy procedures or identify a particular music format as preferable.
Subgroups require care
The abstract highlights anxiety findings in prostate biopsies and pain findings in bone marrow and prostate biopsies. These subgroup descriptions do not establish that music works better in those procedures than others, because comparative subgroup estimates are not supplied.
The original publication
Effectiveness of music interventions for patients undergoing needle biopsy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Han W, Zhang M, Luo M et al.
Complement Ther Med · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40706712
- Record checked
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