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Abstract Purpose Several studies support the benefits of music therapy (MT) for improving symptoms within a single session among patients with hematologic/oncologic conditions, but none have examined real-world longitudinal impacts. This study evaluated whether there was a dose–response relationship between MT intervention exposure and longitudinal changes in pain intensity and opioid utilization. Methods A retrospective electronic health record review was conducted of 283 hospital admissions among adult patients with hematologic/oncologic conditions who received MT and either reported pain ≥ 4/10 on the numeric rating scale (NRS) or received opioids in the first 48 h of admission. Longitudinal changes in pain intensity on the 0–10 NRS and log-transformed morphine milligram equivalents were modeled using linear mixed-effects models with natural splines for time since first MT intervention interacting with MT exposure group (1, 2, or ≥ 3 MT interventions). Models were adjusted for baseline values and length of stay. Results Of 283 hospital admissions, 122 (43.1%) included 1, 89 (31.4%) included 2, and 72 (25.4%) included ≥ 3 MT interventions. No meaningful MT exposure-by-time effects were found for pain intensity ( p = .131) or opioid utilization per day ( p = .118). Conclusions Among patients admitted with hematologic/oncologic conditions, greater MT exposure does not appear to reduce pain intensity or opioid exposure over time relative to receiving 1 MT intervention. Future evaluations of inpatient programs should consider collecting more robust data on outcomes that may be more sensitive to intervention (e.g., stress, anxiety) and increasing the MT dose to have a greater impact on outcomes over time.
Rodgers-Melnick et al. (Sat,) studied this question.