Pre-Recorded Music Interventions on Delirium in Hospitalized Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Delirium is a frequent acute cognitive disorder in elderly hospitalized patients, with worse short-term and long-term outcomes. Pre-recorded music interventions offer a promising approach in prevention of delirium development. Therefore, this study updates prior research by analyzing the effects of music interventions on the development of delirium across different hospital settings in adult patients. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted following PRISMA guidelines. Randomized Controlled Trials in adult patients (≥18 years of age) hospitalized across different hospital units, mentioning music interventions and delirium assessment were included. The intervention group was defined as listening to pre-recorded music using any device of any duration or genre compared to a standard care control group. Primary outcomes were number of delirium events (incidence) and mean delirium assessment scores (severity). The primary outcome for the meta-analysis was a calculated risk ratio. A total of 8 studies were included, with a total of 1,129 patients with an overall mean age (SD) of 66.99 (±12.46). Primary outcomes show a lower number of delirium events following music interventions in the majority of included studies. Meta-analysis, with inclusion of 5 studies and 1,023 patients, shows a risk ratio of 0.52 (95% confidence interval: 0.37–0.73) for delirium development in mostly elderly patients following music interventions compared to standard care. In conclusion, this paper adds new evidence to the beneficial effects of pre-recorded music interventions on the prevention of delirium development.