Recovery-room music reduced anxiety scores after gynecological surgery
A randomized hospital trial found a greater reduction in postoperative anxiety with music through earphones than with silent earphones, alongside improvements in some recovery measures.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Women assigned to music had a greater reduction in state-anxiety scores than controls after surgery. The abstract also reports less agitation, pain and analgesic use, plus better sleep. These findings support a possible recovery benefit in this surgical setting, but the abstract does not show how large the anxiety improvement was.
The abstract reports statistical significance without the size or confidence interval of the anxiety difference. A single hospital and a specific surgical population limit generalization.
What researchers found
Greater reduction in STAI-S state-anxiety scores
Music versus silent earphones, with scores assessed on the first and second postoperative days. The P value describes statistical evidence, not the magnitude of improvement.
Anxiety improved in both groups
State-anxiety scores declined in both groups after surgery, with a larger decline in the music group. The primary result therefore concerns the difference in improvement, rather than whether anxiety fell at all during recovery.
Laboratory results were mixed
The music group had lower ACTH and cortisol levels, but other measured hormones and metabolic markers did not differ significantly. Those laboratory findings are separate from patients' anxiety, pain and sleep outcomes.
The original publication
One-hour music intervention to improve the quality of recovery in female patients undergoing elective surgery after general anesthesia: A single-center randomized clinical study.
Zhang Y, Basnet D, Zhao Y et al.
J Clin Anesth · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40779914
- Record checked
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