NICU music therapy: Post hoc analysis of an early intervention clinical program

The incidence of premature births in the United States is increasing, as are medical costs related to this problem. Research has shown benefits for NICU-MT in small sample size, controlled clinical trials. Such benefits have included significantly earlier discharge dates and a consistent pattern of increases in weight gain that has not been statistically significant. As yet, no clinical analyses of the effects of NICU-MT have been conducted.The clinical NICU-MT program at TMH has been in effect for over 7 years and includes referrals for multi-modal stimulation, Pacifier-Activated-Lullaby (PAL) treatment, and parent training in infant stimulation. We analyzed the medical records of all infants born low birth weight (<2499 g) and born prior to 36 gestation weeks who were treated in the NICU in 2006 (N = 208) with differentiation for receipt of NICU-MT or not. We excluded infants not discharged to the home but to another medical site for further treatment. This post hoc analysis of clinical records showed that the smallest, lowest birth-weight infants were more often referred for music therapy. Infants receiving NICU-MT gained more weight/day than did infants not referred for MT. Those born very early (24–28 gestational weeks) were discharged sooner than non-music infants in that age range. Infants born after 30 weeks and receiving MT had longer length of stay than non-music infants but they also were diagnosed with more serious illnesses. In summary, the demographics reveal that MT is primarily referred for premature, low birth-weight infants and those with multiple, serious medical problems.

Research highlights▶ This post hoc clinical analysis showed that MT infants gained more weight/day than did controls. ▶ MT infants born prior to 30 gestational weeks had shorter lengths of stay than controls. ▶ MT infants with the lowest birth weights had shorter length of stay. ▶ Evidence-based MT is most effective with severely premature infants.