Playing music to hospital patients on ventilators helps them to breathe more easily, findings show.
Experts at the Cochrane Library say music could be better than drugs to calm patients during forced ventilation.
In studies involving more than 200 intensive care patients, listening to music reduced anxiety and helped slow patients' breathing rates.
In one of the trials a trained music therapist played live music with a tempo synchronized to the patient's breathing.
But pre-recorded music also worked.
More work is planned to determine if the type of music played is important.
From the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11935522)
The Cochrane Collaboration (http://www.cochrane.org/podcasts/issues-10-12-october-december-2010/music-interventions-mechanically-ventilated-patients)