Effect of Music on Quality of Life in Stable Angina: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Introduction: Quality of life associated with coronary artery disease can be affected by number of factors. Even though standard treatment has improved survival of such patients, the quality of life may be less than ideal as the disease affects the physical, social, and emotional functioning of such individuals. Therefore improvement of the quality of life of the patients with coronary artery disease is vital. Though music has been identified having a potential benefit in improving quality of life for many years, researches conducted to recognize the effect of music on quality of life were sparse. Therefore the aim of this study was to determine the effect of frequent long term listening to Indian classical music on quality of life in chronic stable angina (SA) patients. Methodology: This single blind randomized clinical trial was conducted for one month. The intervention group of 30 patients listened to a music based on Indian classical system at home twice a day complementary to their regular treatment. The control group of 30 was only on their usual treatment. Both groups were assessed before and after the intervention for the quality of life by the Sinhala version of SF-36 questionnaire. Results: A statistically significant increase of scores for physical function by 16.17 (p < 0.01), for role-physical—40.83 (p < 0.01), for body pain—11.03 (p < 0.01), for general health—17.9 (p < 0.01), for vitality—17 (p < 0.01), for social functioning—15.37, for role emotional—37.87(p < 0.01), for mental health—16.66 (p < 0.01), overall physical health by 20.6 (p < 0.01), the overall mental health by 20.84 (p < 0.01) and the total score of quality of life by 21.6 (p < 0.01) was observed in the study group after the intervention; but not in the control group. Conclusion: Listening to the music based on Indian classical system significantly improved the quality of life of stable angina patients. Therefore music therapy has a potential benefit in considering for use as complementary to conventional treatment for stable angina in improving quality of life.