Music therapy as a migraine treatment: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis

IntroductionHeadache disorders are one of the most common health problems worldwide, they can be classified into primary and secondary disorders. In the primary group, migraine - the second most common type of headache - is the most disabling one and one of the most important reasons why its treatment is mandatory. Migraine treatment involves different steps and kinds of medical therapy and patient education, and in these past years studies have been exploring the effect music therapy can have in reducing the severity and duration of an acute migraine attack. It has been reported that adding music to the pharmacological treatment can help decrease the pain severity, thus, reducing the disability migraine can cause. ObjectiveEvaluate the effectiveness of music therapy as a treatment or coadjuvant of migraine attacks in people who suffer this condition. Methods and analysisThis protocol is consistent with the methodology recommended by the PRISMA-P and the Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions. This study will be carried out as a systematic review and meta-analysis. In order to do so, electronic searches will be performed in PubMed, Medline and Cochrane (through Ovid) and Embase. The data range parameters used in searching all databases are from the last 20 years. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese; with the primary outcomes being reduction of headache intensity, resolution of the migraine and decreased frequency of migraine attacks. Three investigators will screen all retrieved studies titles and abstracts, making a first preliminary list. A second screen will be done by the same three investigators similarly to the first one, but reviewing the full texts and building the final list. Then, the evaluation of the risk of bias and extraction of all data will be performed. The risk of bias of the included RCTs will be evaluated by the Cochrane Collaborations tool. A qualitative synthesis will be provided in text and tables, to summarize the main results of the selected publications. The heterogeneity between studies will be assessed through the I2 statistic. If there is sufficient homogeneity across outcomes, a meta-analysis will be conducted. ConclusionsThis systematic review will provide evidence regarding the effectiveness of music therapy as a single or coadjuvant treatment in patients with migraine attacks. Based on this analysis, it will be feasible to know whether this intervention is effective in the reduction of the intensity of the migraine attack, if it can help resolve the migraine attack, or reduce the frequency of migraine attacks.