Music During Cataract Surgery Effectively Lowers Anxiety

Playing music during cataract surgery has long been seen as a nonpharmacologic way to reduce patient anxiety. A paper presented at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery 2023 annual meeting, held in San Diego, CA, from May 5 to 8, 2023, adds to a growing body of research suggesting that applying music for better outcomes is not merely anecdotal. The study shows that patients who underwent cataract surgery experienced a reduced risk of hypertensive episodes.

Surgeons randomly assigned 107 patients (mean age 70.7 years) who were scheduled to undergo cataract removal into 1 of 2 groups: those who were played their choice of music during cataract surgery on an overhead speaker, and those who were not, used as a control group. All participants were blinded to the purpose of the study.

The investigators reviewed participant outcomes using a 6-question Likert-style survey (modified from the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) to assess anxiety, as well as a standard postoperative assessment and a review of the patients’ postoperative medication use, dosage, and number of intraoperative sedative injections given.

The findings of the survey, issued on postoperative day 1, show that while the researchers were not able to identify any differences in stress or anxiety levels at baseline, patients who were played music had significantly lower total self-reported anxiety (mean 5.98) than the patients randomly assigned to the control group (mean 7.13, P =.006). 

The patients who listened to music during cataract surgery also reported feeling significantly less frightened (P =.002), nervous (P =.007), and confused (P =.017) than those in the control group, according to the study.,

“Music has direct impact on patient experience and is an inexpensive, low risk method of reducing patient anxiety during surgery,” according to the presenters.

However, the researchers found no significant difference in patients who were played music during cataract surgery regarding the number and dosage of sedatives given.