Music after cesarean delivery lowered anxiety and pain-catastrophizing scores
Women who listened to classical music had lower questionnaire scores soon after birth, but the abstract does not report a direct pain-intensity measure.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Women assigned to music had lower postpartum anxiety and pain-catastrophizing scores than controls at the assessment. This supports an early difference in those questionnaire outcomes after cesarean delivery. Although the authors describe reduced perceived pain, the abstract reports a pain-catastrophizing scale, so it does not establish how much pain intensity changed.
This abstract-based account has no group mean scores or effect sizes to show the size of the difference. It also provides no follow-up beyond the early postpartum assessment.
What researchers found
Postpartum anxiety and pain catastrophizing
PSAS and PCS mean scores in the music group versus no-intervention controls at the 48th postpartum hour.
What the intervention involved
Researchers assigned women to a standardized playlist of relaxing instrumental classical music or a control group. Questionnaires were collected after the music intervention had begun, allowing a comparison of the reported early postpartum outcomes.
Why the endpoint names matter
The trial’s stated question concerned pain and anxiety, but its reported measures were postpartum-specific anxiety and pain catastrophizing. Keeping those endpoints separate avoids treating every pain-related questionnaire as a direct measure of pain severity.
The original publication
The Effect of Music Played During the Postoperative Period on Pain and Anxiety Levels in Women Who Underwent Cesarean Delivery: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Akın B, Özdemir S
J Integr Complement Med · 2026
- PubMed ID
- 41182331
- Record checked
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