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The Effects of Music on ANS and Anxiety in Healthy Elderly and Persons With SCD

The Effects of Music on Autonomic Nervous System and Anxiety in Healthy Elderly and Persons With Subjective Cognitive Decline

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04177160
Enrollment
15
Registered
2019-11-26
Start date
2019-04-15
Completion date
2019-12-31
Last updated
2021-01-22

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Dementia

Keywords

music, anxiety, autonomic nervous system, subjective cognition decline

Brief summary

Subjective cognition decline (SCD) is considered as a risk factor of dementia and associates not only with further cognition deterioration but with a higher anxiety level. Anxiety may lead to decreasing cognitive function and negative impacts on the well-being and quality of life. To avoid these consequences, reducing anxiety is an important step to treat SCD. To ease anxious emotions, music has been viewed as an effective, safe and easy alternative to medication. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of music on reducing the anxiety of the healthy elderly and SCD and further to compare the anxiety level between SCD and healthy controls.

Detailed description

Single subject pretest-posttest design was used. 12 SCD subjects was recruited from the memory clinic and 12 healthy controls from the community. The anxiety level was assessed both by self-reports (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Visual Analogue Scale of Anxiety) and by objective measurements related to autonomic nervous system activities (heart rate variability and electrodermal activity). The participants underwent a memory task to induce anxiety. Next, preferred music and white noise were provided in random order. The anxiety level and the effects of music intervention between SCD and healthy controls will be further compared.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALMusic

Subjects sit still and listen to preferred music for 5 minutes.

BEHAVIORALWhite noise

Subjects sit still and listen to white noise for 5 minutes.

Sponsors

National Taiwan University Hospital
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
60 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* able to read and write Mandarin * the scores of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) ≥ 24

Exclusion criteria

* cognitive status was affected by psychic problems, neurological disease or other conditions * people with auditory and visual impairments * people with obesity (BMI ≥ 27) or diabetes mellitus.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Heart rate variability45 minutesHeart activity was transformed into low- and high-frequency power components, which represented sympathetic and parasympathetic system activities respectively. It is recorded by skin conductance sensors wearing on the 2nd to 4th finger. These sensors connect to ProComp2™ Biofeedback System to collect biofeedback data. The data is further calibrated and analyzed by CardioPro Infiniti software.
Skin conductance45 minutesElectrodermal activity related to sympathetic system response (sweating). It is recorded by skin conductance sensors wearing on the 2nd to 4th finger. These sensors connect to ProComp2™ Biofeedback System to collect biofeedback data. The data is further calibrated and analyzed by CardioPro Infiniti software.
Visual Analogue Scale of AnxietyAfter each stimulus task and intervention: on the 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 35th and 40th minute.Participants reports their immediately subjective anxiety levels.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Chinese version of state-trait anxiety inventory-trait versionBaselineA self-report regards to participants' usual emotional status and personal characteristic based on a 4-point Likert scale and consists of 20 questions. People who get higher scores are considered having more anxious personality.

Countries

Taiwan

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026