Page 15 - Petelin, Ana. 2021. Ed. Zdravje starostnikov / Health of the Elderly. Proceedings. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
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https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-129-2.13-23

Effects of music therapy on patients with
dementia: A systematic review

Liridon Avdylaj, Ines Dujc

Izola General Hospital, Izola, Slovenia
liridon.avdylaj@gmail.com; ines.dujc@gmail.com
Abstract
Introduction: A high percentage (20% to 40%) of residents in nursing
homes care and patients in acute hospitals suffering from dementia
develop neuropsychiatric symptoms such as anxiety, depression,
agitation, apathy and delusions. Neuropsychiatric symptoms are
complex, stressful and challenging to manage, which increase caregiver’s
burden and the cost associated with dementia care. This systematic
literature review aims to investigate the effects of music therapy on
neuropsychiatric symptoms of patients with dementia. Methods:
A literature search was performed in databases: MEDLINE, Wiley
Online Library, CINHAL and ScienceDirect. The search keywords
included dementia, music therapy, neuropsychiatric symptoms, anxiety,
depression. The search was limited to scientific articles; only articles
in English language; only systematic reviews; articles published from
January 2011 to January 2021; articles with full text available; articles
about residents, who were clinically diagnosed with dementia; articles on
study intervention: music therapy; outcomes of study: reported at least
one effect of music therapy on neuropsychiatric symptoms; reviews were
required to have an AMSTAR rating of five points or greater. Results:
We screened 3257 titles, only 12 articles, involving in total 5.978 patients,
met the inclusion criteria for review. Overall, the studies showed that
music therapy has a significant impact on decreasing neuropsychiatric
symptoms of people with dementia. Some of studies found out that there
were no significant improvements on cognition or daily functioning and
the results on quality of life were ambiguous. Discussion and conclusions:
Music therapy is beneficial and improves neuropsychiatric symptoms of
people with dementia, therefore it could be a powerful treatment strategy
in the future. However further randomized studies are still needed.
Keywords: dementia, music therapy, neuropsychiatric symptoms,
depression, anxiety.
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