Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of music therapy as an adjunctive nursing method for postoperative pain management in patients with oral cancer. METHODS: This retrospective study analysed 106 patients who underwent oral cancer surgery at the 940th Hospital of Joint Logistics Support Force of Chinese People's Liberation Army between June 2022 and June 2024. Patients were divided into standard care (n = 51) and music therapy (n = 55) groups in accordance with different postoperative nursing methods. The music therapy group received structured music therapy in addition to standard care. Outcome measures included analgesic medication usage; scores on the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain assessment, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Quality of Recovery-15 (QoR-15); and physiological indicators (blood pressure, heart rate [HR], cortisol, dopamine (DA) and inflammatory factor levels). RESULTS: On postoperative day 7, the music therapy group demonstrated lower VAS scores (P < 0.05) and reduced analgesic medication consumption (P < 0.05) compared with the standard care group. On postoperative day 7, the SAS and PSQI scores of the music therapy group were significantly lower (P < 0.05) than those of the standard care group. In terms of physiological indicators, on postoperative day 7, the music therapy group had significantly lower systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, HR, cortisol levels and interleukin-1β levels but significantly higher DA levels (P < 0.05) than the standard care group. The quality of recovery assessment revealed that the music therapy group had significantly higher scores on all five dimensions of the QoR-15 and total scores (P < 0.05) than the standard care group. CONCLUSION: Music therapy demonstrates modest pain relief effects combined with reduced analgesic requirements whilst significantly improving sleep, anxiety and recovery quality.