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73/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 73 out of 100. Caregiving

Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

Objectives To assess the effects of music-based therapeutic interventions for people with dementia on emotional well-being (including quality of life), mood disturbance or negative affect (i.e. depressive symptoms and anxiety), behavioural problems (i.e. overall behavioural problems or neuropsychiatric symptoms, and more specifically agitation or aggression), social behaviour and cognition, at the end of therapy and four or more weeks after the end of treatment, and to assess any adverse effects. Main results We included 30 studies with 1720 randomised participants that were conducted in 15 countries. For music-based therapeutic interventions compared to usual care, we found moderate-certainty evidence that, at the end of treatment, music-based therapeutic interventions probably improved depressive symptoms slightly (standardised mean difference (SMD) -0.23, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.42 to -0.04; 9 studies, 441 participants), and we found low-certainty evidence that it may have improved overall behavioural problems (SMD -0.31, 95% CI -0.60 to -0.02; 10 studies, 385 participants). We found moderate-certainty evidence that music-based therapeutic interventions likely did not improve agitation or aggression (SMD -0.05, 95% CI -0.27 to 0.17; 11 studies, 503 participants). Low to very low certainty evidence showed that they did not improve emotional well-being (SMD 0.14, 95% CI -0.29 to 0.56; 4 studies, 154 participants), anxiety (SMD -0.15, 95% CI -0.39 to 0.09; 7 studies, 282 participants), social behaviour (SMD 0.22, 95% CI -0.14 to 0.57; 2 studies; 121 participants) or cognition (SMD 0.19, 95% CI -0.02 to 0.41; 7 studies, 353 participants). Low or very-low -certainty evidence showed that music-based therapeutic interventions may not have been more effective than usual care in the long term (four weeks or more after the end of treatment) for any of the outcomes. For music-based therapeutic interventions compared to other interventions, we found low-certainty evidence that, at the end of treatment, music-based therapeutic interventions may have been more effective than the other activities for social behaviour (SMD 0.52, 95% CI 0.08 to 0.96; 4 studies, 84 participants). We found very low-certainty evidence of a positive effect on anxiety (SMD -0.75, 95% CI -1.27 to -0.24; 10 studies, 291 participants). For all other outcomes, low-certainty evidence showed no evidence of an effect: emotional well-being (SMD 0.20, 95% CI -0.09 to 0.49; 9 studies, 298 part

Key findings

Objectives To assess the effects of music-based therapeutic interventions for people with dementia on emotional well-being (including quality of life), mood disturbance or negative affect (i.e. depressive symptoms and anxiety), behavioural problems (i.e. overall behavioural problems or neuropsychiatric symptoms, and more specifically agitation or aggression), social behaviour and cognition, at the end of therapy and four or more weeks after the end of treatment, and to assess any adverse effects.
Main results We included 30 studies with 1720 randomised participants that were conducted in 15 countries.
For music-based therapeutic interventions compared to usual care, we found moderate-certainty evidence that, at the end of treatment, music-based therapeutic interventions probably improved depressive symptoms slightly (standardised mean difference (SMD) -0.23, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.42 to -0.04; 9 studies, 441 participants), and we found low-certainty evidence that it may have improved overall behavioural problems (SMD -0.31, 95% CI -0.60 to -0.02; 10 studies, 385 participants).
We found moderate-certainty evidence that music-based therapeutic interventions likely did not improve agitation or aggression (SMD -0.05, 95% CI -0.27 to 0.17; 11 studies, 503 participants).
Low to very low certainty evidence showed that they did not improve emotional well-being (SMD 0.14, 95% CI -0.29 to 0.56; 4 studies, 154 participants), anxiety (SMD -0.15, 95% CI -0.39 to 0.09; 7 studies, 282 participants), social behaviour (SMD 0.22, 95% CI -0.14 to 0.57; 2 studies; 121 participants) or cognition (SMD 0.19, 95% CI -0.02 to 0.41; 7 studies, 353 participants).

Why it matters

This review found moderate-certainty evidence that music-based interventions probably slightly improved depressive symptoms and low-certainty evidence they may have improved overall behavioural problems. However, they likely did not improve agitation or aggression, and evidence showed they did not improve emotional well-being.

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Study details

Study designmeta-analysis
Participants1,720
Effect sizeDepressive symptoms SMD -0.23 (95% CI -0.42 to -0.04); agitation SMD -0.05 (95% CI -0.27 to 0.17)
Evidence strengthModerate

Limitations

Most trials at high risk of performance bias and small; participants mostly institutionalised; adverse effects inconsistently reported; long-term data from only 10 studies.

How this study scored 73/100

Published in a leading specialty journal, and it is a meta-analysis pooling many studies. We have no data on senior author's track record and free to read, so those were left out: it earned 69 of the 94 points we could judge it on, which is 73 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	9 / 10	Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews)
Journal's citation record	3 / 4	Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews: journal h-index 468 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	12 / 12	A meta-analysis pooling many studies
Strength of evidence	3 / 5	Rated “moderate” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	4 / 5	2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	3 / 4	1,720 participants
Effect reported	3 / 3	Effect reported with a statistic (interval, p-value, ratio or similar)
Studied in people	3 / 3	Studied in people (participant count stated)
Randomised / blinded	0 / 2	A review of other studies — randomisation is not credited here
Times cited	3 / 7	Cited 34 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	3 / 5	11.3 citations a year over 3 year(s) since 2025
Impact for its field and year	5 / 6	Cited 37.5× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	1 / 6	Cited by 1 other studies in this library
Still being cited	2 / 4	Cited 33 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	— / 4	OpenAlex's profile for last-listed author Manon S Bruinsma holds only 4 work(s), too few to judge a track record — left out of this score
Institution's track record	1 / 3	King's College London: institution h-index 1,348 (OpenAlex)
Multi-centre collaboration	2 / 3	OpenAlex lists 9 institution(s) in 2 countries
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 40049590)
Free to read	— / 2	Access not recorded — left out of this score
Points	69 / 94	Scored on 18 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 69 of the 94 points we could judge it on is 73 out of 100.
Total	73 / 100	—

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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

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APA 7th

van der Steen, J. T., van der Wouden, J. C., Methley, A. M., Smaling, H. J. A., Vink, A. C., & Bruinsma, M. S. (2025). Music-based therapeutic interventions for people with dementia (Cochrane review update). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD003477.pub5

Vancouver

van der Steen JT, van der Wouden JC, Methley AM, Smaling HJA, Vink AC, Bruinsma MS. Music-based therapeutic interventions for people with dementia (Cochrane review update). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2025. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD003477.pub5. PMID: 40049590.

BibTeX

@article{vandersteen2025-40049590,
  author  = {van der Steen, J. T. and van der Wouden, J. C. and Methley, A. M. and Smaling, H. J. A. and Vink, A. C. and Bruinsma, M. S.},
  title   = {{Music-based therapeutic interventions for people with dementia (Cochrane review update)}},
  journal = {Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews},
  year    = {2025},
  doi     = {10.1002/14651858.CD003477.pub5},
  pmid    = {40049590},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD003477.pub5}
}

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