Effect of Music Therapy as a Non-Pharmacological Measure Applied to Alzheimer’s Disease Patients: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The objective of this research was to learn about the effects of music as a non-pharmacological therapeutic intervention applied to Alzheimer’s disease. To this aim, we evaluated its results regarding symptomatology and caregiver burden. Methods: This systematic review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria. We searched Pubmed/Medline (NLM), Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane and Google Scholar, including articles from 1 January 2011–20 July 2021, using the keywords “Alzheimer’s disease”, “Music therapy”, “Caregivers overload”, “Amnesia retrograde” and “Clinical evolution”. To select the articles our criteria included complete text availability, quantitative research of an experimental nature and studies which, at least, figured in SJR or in JCR. Results: We found a relationship between the application of music therapy in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and an improvement regarding symptomatology, as it smoothed down the progress of the disease. Using music therapy in Alzheimer’s patients also led to a decrease in caregivers’ burden and an increase in their well-being. Conclusions: Our results showed the benefits of music therapy, as it improved both patients’ symptomatology and caregivers’ burden.

Keywords

• Alzheimer’s disease
• music therapy
• caregivers’ overload
• clinical evolution
• retrograde amnesia