NCT03348657

Brief Summary

Music therapy has long been used to improve communication, health and quality of life. Music is also known to regulate pain, mood and anxiety levels. In the geriatric population, music listening has been shown to decrease depressive symptoms and neuropsychiatric symptoms such as agitation and anxiety. As a result, the use of music is recommended by national guidelines to control the behavioural symptoms of patients in long-term care facilities. Despite the demonstrated positive benefits of music for health and behavioural outcomes, very few studies using music have been performed in the hospital environment and even fewer on short-stay geriatric units. Older adults are the fastest-growing group of patients admitted to hospital, and the age-related burden of non-fatal health outcomes is one of the main challenges faced by hospitals. One of those age-related burdens is related to falls. Falls are highly frequent in geriatric patients, particularly on short-stay geriatric units, with a prevalence of up to 30 %. Falls are associated with increased length of hospital stay, high health-care costs and negative non-fatal health outcomes including multi-morbidities and related disabilities. Previous research has shown that music may decrease the risk of falls. For example, it was shown that the rhythm of music, combined with physical exercise, can improve measures of gait stability. In older community dwellers, music-based programs have demonstrated that improvement of gait stability decreased the risk of falls. We therefore hypothesized that music listening may decrease the risk of falls of geriatric patients admitted to a short stay unit. This study aimed to examine the influence of music listening on the risk of falls in patients admitted to a Geriatric Assessment Unit (GAU) by comparing the Morse Fall Scale (MFS) score for patients who attended music listening sessions and in control patients who did not attend these music sessions. To our knowledge, this is the first study to assess the effect of music listening on the risk of falls in a geriatric unit.

Trial Health

87
On Track

Trial Health Score

Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach

Enrollment
152

participants targeted

Target at P75+ for not_applicable

Timeline
Completed

Started Oct 2014

Geographic Reach
1 country

1 active site

Status
completed

Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.

Trial Relationships

Click on a node to explore related trials.

Study Timeline

Key milestones and dates

Study Start

First participant enrolled

October 1, 2014

Completed
1.7 years until next milestone

Primary Completion

Last participant's last visit for primary outcome

May 31, 2016

Completed
Same day until next milestone

Study Completion

Last participant's last visit for all outcomes

May 31, 2016

Completed
1.5 years until next milestone

First Submitted

Initial submission to the registry

November 13, 2017

Completed
8 days until next milestone

First Posted

Study publicly available on registry

November 21, 2017

Completed
Last Updated

November 21, 2017

Status Verified

November 1, 2017

Enrollment Period

1.7 years

First QC Date

November 13, 2017

Last Update Submit

November 17, 2017

Conditions

FallMusicAged

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

  • Change in the risk of fall

    The Morse Fall Scale (MFS). This is a rapid and simple method to assess the probability that a patient will fall. The total score is out of 125 and includes 6 items: history of previous falls, presence of a secondary diagnosis (i.e. more than one medical diagnosis in the patient's chart), use of an ambulatory aid (none, cane, walker), presence of intravenous therapy, gait and transfers (normal, weak, impaired) and the patient's mental status (oriented towards own ability or not). The score is further divided into 3 risk levels: low risk (less than 25 points), medium risk (25-44 points) and high risk (more than 45 points).

    At baseline (T0) and 4 weeks later (T1)

Study Arms (2)

Music intervention Group

OTHER

Patients who participated to at least one music session provided by volunteers while being admitted to the geriatric assessment unit. Participation to the music sessions was voluntary.

Other: Music Session

Control Group

NO INTERVENTION

Patients who did not want to participate to the music sessions provided by volunteers while being admitted to the geriatric assessment unit

Interventions

Music SessionOTHER

Three to four times a week, volunteer musicians came to the geriatric assessment unit and would provide music sessions (duration of about 60 minutes) to the patients who volunteered to attend.

Music intervention Group

Eligibility Criteria

Sexall
Healthy VolunteersYes
Age GroupsChild (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

  • first admission to the GAU
  • length of stay between 5 and 31 days

You may not qualify if:

  • none

Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Study Sites (1)

St. Mary's Hospital Center

Montreal, Quebec, H3T 1M5, Canada

Location

Related Publications (1)

  • Chabot J, Beauchet O, Fung S, Peretz I. Decreased risk of falls in patients attending music sessions on an acute geriatric ward: results from a retrospective cohort study. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2019 Mar 28;19(1):76. doi: 10.1186/s12906-019-2484-x.

    PMID: 30922356DERIVED

Study Design

Study Type
interventional
Phase
not applicable
Allocation
NON RANDOMIZED
Masking
NONE
Purpose
PREVENTION
Intervention Model
PARALLEL
Sponsor Type
OTHER
Responsible Party
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
PI Title
Principal Investigator

Study Record Dates

First Submitted

November 13, 2017

First Posted

November 21, 2017

Study Start

October 1, 2014

Primary Completion

May 31, 2016

Study Completion

May 31, 2016

Last Updated

November 21, 2017

Record last verified: 2017-11

Locations

CA(1)