Music therapy meets trial’s anxiety benchmark against CBT after cancer
A randomized trial found music therapy was not unacceptably worse than cognitive behavioral therapy under its prespecified comparison rule.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Both groups reported anxiety reductions that the investigators considered clinically meaningful, and music therapy met the study’s noninferiority criterion. That means the results ruled out it being worse than CBT by the trial’s chosen margin. It does not establish identical effects, superiority, or effectiveness for people outside this cancer-survivor population.
The abstract does not report adverse events, dropout or session content. It compares structured telehealth therapies, so the findings do not establish what informal music listening would achieve.
What researchers found
Difference in change in HADS anxiety score
Music therapy minus CBT at week 26; 95% CI -0.95 to 0.32. This met the trial’s noninferiority criterion.
What was measured
Anxiety was measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. The main question was whether music therapy fell within an acceptable difference from CBT, rather than whether either approach outperformed an untreated comparison group.
How to read the follow-up
Anxiety improvements remained evident at the later assessment. The groups also had similar changes in secondary outcomes, including fatigue, depression and insomnia, although the abstract gives no detailed numerical estimates for those outcomes.
The original publication
Music Therapy Versus Cognitive Behavioral Therapy via Telehealth for Anxiety in Survivors of Cancer: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
Liou KT, Bradt J, Currier MB et al.
J Clin Oncol · 2026
- PubMed ID
- 41494146
- Record checked
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