Abstract
Purpose :
To determine the effect of Korean traditional music on pain in patients undergoing delayed sequential cataract surgery.
Methods :
Data for 52 patients undergoing cataract surgery were analyzed. They were allocated randomly into two groups: first group consisted of 23 patients to whom Korean traditional music (KTM) was played only during surgery on the first eye and the second group consisted of 29 patients to whom KTM was played only during surgery on the second eye. A washout period of between 1 and 2 weeks was considered and patients who either failed to record their pain scores, whose scores were lost, or did not attend the second surgery at the pre-designated times were excluded from the initial sample. The patients had the following baseline characteristics: (1) age range: 50s - 13.5%, 60s - 26.9%, 70s – 50.0% and 80s - 9.6%; (2) high blood pressure - 63.5%, and (3) diabetics - 40.4%. The music which had a simple melody line, no lyrics and limited dynamic range was chosen and was played repeatedly during the surgeries. Crossover design is appropriate to compare perceived pain during the surgery from period effect for delayed sequential cataract surgery. This method is only valid if the carryover effect is excluded.
Results :
Statistically significant result can be obtained (p value=0.013) for pain reduction effect of KTM by conducting F-test in ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) table. However, the existence of such effect can only be confirmed where the carryover effect is not statistically significant. Here, it has been possible to confirm that KTM was effective in reducing pain during cataract surgery as the carryover effect was not shown to be statistically significant (p-value=0.056). The reduction in pain experience whilst listening to KTM was particularly noticeable for female patients (p=value=0.029) and patients with high blood pressure (p-value=0.011). There were no significant differences in blood pressures and pulse rates between the two groups with and without Korean traditional music.
Conclusions :
This study showed that KTM had statistically significant effect on reducing pain during cataract surgeries regardless of the sequence and that it was more effective for patients with high blood pressure and female. It was proved utilizing a 2-sequence, 2-period, 2-treatment crossover design that KTM created a relaxing and stable mood reducing pain without carryover effect.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.