Effect of Thai instrumental folk music on blood pressure: A randomized ontrolled trial in stage-2 hypertensive patients

Background From epidemiologic data, half of hypertensive patients did not achieve the target blood pressure with pharmacotherapy, partly due to poor compliance. Music therapy is an adjunctive therapy which was proved effective for blood pressure reduction. We aimed to investigate the effect of Thai instrumental folk music listening on blood pressure in Thai hypertensive patients. Design, setting and subjects: A randomized controlled trial, conducted in the stage-2 hypertensive patients at Srinagarind Hospital, Khon Kaen, Thailand. Methods: One hundred-twenty participants were randomized to music listening group and control group (1:1). The music listening group was assigned to listen to Thai instrumental folk music once a day for one month. Outcome measures: The primary and secondary outcome measures were home blood pressure (Day 0th and 30th) and office blood pressure (Day 0th and 120th), respectively. Results: Home systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in the music listening group were significantly reduced compared with baseline ( -9.5 +/- 7.1 mmHg (95%CI -11.43, -7.64) and -6.1 +/- 5.7 mmHg (95%CI -7.51, -4.53), respectively). Both home SBP and DBP at day 30th of the music listening group were significantly lower than in the control group (6.0 mmHg (95%CI -8.58, -3.40) and -3.15 mmHg (95%CI -5.20, -1.09), respectively), while the differences of office SBP and DBP between two groups were not significant. Conclusion This study demonstrated that Thai instrumental folk music listening was effective for SBP and DBP reduction in stage-2 HT patients. This therapy can be used as an alternating approach simultaneously with pharmacological treatment.