Music during cataract surgery: effect on anxiety.

Purpose: To determine the effect of playing patient-selected music intraoperatively on patient self-reported anxiety and the amount of sedative administered during cataract surgery.

Setting: Yale New Haven Hospital health system, New Haven, Connecticut.

Design: Prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial.

Methods: Patients were randomized to either a music group or a control group, which had no music played. Patients were blinded to the purpose of the study. On postoperative day 1, patients were consented to participate in the study and asked to complete a 6-question Likert-style survey (modified from the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) assessing anxiety at baseline and during surgery. Patients' intraoperative and postoperative vitals were recorded. The medication, dosage, and number of sedative injections given were also recorded. Paired t tests were used to assess for significant differences between the 2 groups.

Results: 107 patients (mean age 71.2 years) were enrolled in the study. There was no significant difference in baseline anxiety between the 2 groups. Patients randomized to the music group had significantly lower total self-reported anxiety (mean 5.98) than the control group (mean 7.13, P = .006). Moreover, patients exposed to music felt significantly less frightened, nervous, and confused during surgery ( P = .002, .007, and 0.017, respectively). There was no significant difference between the groups in number and dosage of sedatives given.

Conclusions: Playing patient-selected music during cataract surgery is an effective way to decrease anxiety. Music directly affects patient experience and is an inexpensive, low-risk method of reducing patient anxiety during surgery.