Study on the Responses of Hypertensive Patients to Music

Many clinical findings indicate that certain types of music can reduce blood pressure (BP) under various medical conditions. Therefore, it is of great interest to investigate the BP responses of hypertensive patients to music and to what extent the music can help them to lower their BP if they listen to the selected music daily. Fifteen subjects from an elderly home participated in the study. Eight of them had initial systolic BP (SBP) higher than 140 mmHg. They listened to the selected music for 25 minutes per day for 4 weeks. BP was measured twice a week by a registered nurse with a sphygmomanometer during the 4-week study period and after the completion of the study. Three subjects, including one with initial SBP higher than 140 mmHg, dropped during the experiment due to changes of medical conditions or personal reasons. After 4 weeks, the average decrease in SBP and diastolic BP (DBP) was 11.8 mmHg (p=0.008) and 4.7 mmHg (p=0.218) (n=12), respectively. For the subgroup of subjects with initial SBP higher than 140 mmHg, the average decrease in SBP and DBP was 19.9 mmHg (p<0.001) and 8.5 mmHg (p=0.087) (n=7), respectively. The results demonstrated that listening to a certain type of music may serve as an alternative method to reduce high SBP and the responses of hypertensive patients to music depend on the baseline BP.