The Effect of Music on Patients, Anxiety before General Surgery: a Systematic Review

Introduction: Research results have shown that a wide range of patients experiences anxiety before surgery, which increases drug use and affects the patient's recovery process. Music therapy is one of the non-pharmacological methods to reduce patients 'anxiety. However, various studies do not agree on the effect of this method on patients' anxiety. This study aimed to review music on patients' anxiety before general surgery systematically. Methods: The present study was conducted as a systematic review. Search for Persian information sources IranMedex, Magiran, SID and English PubMed, Ovid, Scopus, Web Of Sciences, Science Direct, and the keywords music therapy, music, surgery, general surgery, anxiety from 2010-2020. All articles and studies related to music therapy were collected, and 9 articles were reviewed. Results: Out of 9 articles reviewed, 2 articles were Persian, and 7 articles were English. Five articles from the reviewed studies showed a positive effect of music on patients' anxiety before general surgery. However, the results of three studies showed that music therapy does not affect patients' anxiety before surgery. The study results also showed that music had no effect on anxiety but reduced the number of sedatives in the intervention group. Conclusions: According to the study results, there is no consensus on the effect of music on preoperative anxiety. It is suggested that more research be done in this context.