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CompletedNCT03453814Updated Mar 30, 2020

Music Intervention for Agitation Reduction in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

An interventional study of Music Therapy in Critical Illness, sponsored by State University of New York at Buffalo. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 5 Years to 17 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2020-03-30.

Sponsored by State University of New York at Buffalo · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
26
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
5 Years to 17 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The objective of this study is to administer music therapy to patients in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) in order to observe how music affects patient agitation, vital signs, and overall recovery in the unit.

Read the detailed description

This study is a prospective randomized controlled study to observe patients who have been admitted to the PICU with an altered state of agitation according to the Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale (RASS). These patients will be administered music therapy during a controlled setting in the day to observe whether the introduction of music therapy helps reduce the patient's level of agitation, improving their vital signs and overall recovery in the unit. Once patients are enrolled and have signed consents, patients will receive a headset with music or dead air. Therapy times will be selected so that there are minimal disruptions. Total time will be 2 hours daily, once in the morning and once in the evening. The treatments for session 1 and session 2 of the day will be the same (i.e. Music/ Music, No music/No Music).

The investigators hypothesize that applying music therapy in the PICU will decrease agitation, length of stay, and narcotic administration, and normalize heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure.

02

Conditions studied

  • Critical Illness

Keywords

  • PICU
  • critical care
  • music
  • music therapy
  • agitation
03

In context

Critical Illness

1,780 studies on the registry are indexed under Critical Illness; 442 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 26 is below the median of 90 across 926 interventional studies indexed under Critical Illness.

Browse Critical Illness studies →

Lead sponsor

State University of New York at Buffalo is the lead sponsor of 294 studies on the registry; 63 are open to participants now.

Of its 19 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 15 (79%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
5 Years to 17 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • PICU patient at Oishei Children's Hospital of Buffalo
  • >4 years of age, \<18 years of age
  • Patients with RASS of +1

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Documented underlying psychological disorders
  • Diagnosed with sever developmental delay
  • Prior narcotic dependence
  • Underlying medical conditions affecting heart rate, blood pressure, or neuromuscular system
  • Chemically paralyzed patients
  • Anyone with an aneurysm
  • Patients who are deaf in both ears
  • Ear bone fractures or other middle/inner ear trauma or major ear avulsion as determined by physician
  • Hemodynamically unstable patients
  • Patients facing imminent death
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Care provider, Investigator)
Enrollment
26 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Interventional

    Music therapy.

    Other: Music Therapy

  • No intervention
    Comparison

    No music therapy.

Interventions

  • OtherMusic Therapy

    Subjects will receive one hour of music twice a day for three days.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS)

    The Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS) is a medical scale used to measure the agitation or sedation level of a patient. The scale measures patient agitation and sedation +4 to -5, with a score of 0 equal to an alert and calm patient, a positive score equal to various levels of aggression, and a negative score equal to various levels of sedation. Patients receive one score for one observed time point. Therefore, a patient will have one score from +4 to -5. For the purpose of this study, a better outcome will be a score that is around 0 or that decreases from a higher positive score to a lower positive score. The investigators hypothesize that music therapy will decrease agitation in patients and decrease their positive RASS score.

    Time frame: 3 days

Secondary outcomes

  1. Bispectral Index (BIS)

    The Bispectral Index provides a direct measure of the effects of sedatives on the brain. It is an algorithm developed by Aspect Medical Systems that measures EEG after the administration of anesthetic agents and is measure on a BIS monitor. The BIS monitor reports a single number from 0 to 100 that represents an integrated measure of cerebral electrical activity. This is interpreted into a patient's level of alertness. A score of 100 indicates that the patient is fully awake, while a number less than 40 is suggestive of a deep hypnotic effect. For the purpose of this study, the investigators are using the BIS to measure the level of alertness in a patient. The investigators hypothesize that the administration of music therapy with have a sedative effect on patients, thereby decreasing their BIS number.

    Time frame: 3 days

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Oishei Children's Hospital
    Buffalo, New York 14203, United States
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Kudchadkar SR, Berger J, Patel R, Barnes S, Twose C, Walker T, Mitchell R, Song J, Anton B, Punjabi NM. Non-pharmacological interventions for sleep promotion in hospitalized children. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2022 Jun 15;6(6):CD012908. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD012908.pub2. PubMed 35703367 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Nov 2018 to primary completion in Aug 2019, 9 months.

Of 400 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Critical Illness, half reached primary completion within 21 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 12 and three quarters within 40. This study's 9 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 404 studies reached it within 21 months; a quarter within 12 and three quarters within 40.

Critical Illness covers many different conditions, not one, so the studies compared here vary widely. Read these figures as a rough guide.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Feb 27, 2018
First posted
Mar 5, 2018
StartActual
Nov 1, 2018
Primary completionActual
Aug 1, 2019
CompletionActual
Mar 1, 2020
Last update
Mar 30, 2020
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Mar 30, 2020, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03453814
Responsible party
David Rothstein (Associate Professor of Surgery, State University of New York at Buffalo) — Principal investigator
First posted
Mar 5, 2018
Start date
Nov 1, 2018
Primary completion
Aug 1, 2019
Completion
Mar 1, 2020
Last update
Mar 30, 2020

Study contacts

David Rothstein, MD
principal investigator · SUNY Buffalo

Oversight

FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2020. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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