The Influence of Lifelong Music Exposure on Quality of Life in Stroke Survivors

Stroke can determine impairment in motor function, language, cognition, sensory processing and emotion. This may severely reduce stroke survivors’ (SS) quality of life (QOL). Study Aim: The aim of the present study was to evaluate how the exposure to music as an enrichment of the socio-cultural background of the individual might have positively influenced quality of life after stroke. Method: A comparative study was used to analyze 188 SS divided in two groups: group Alpha consisting of 96 patients who were exposed to music; group Beta consisting of 92 patients who were not. The following scales were used: the Stroke Impact Scale 3.0 (SIS 3.0), a stroke–specific QOL measure with 8 individual scales, the Barthel Index (BI), to evaluate patients’ functional autonomy, the SF-36, a generic instrument that measures QOL in eight domains, and the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), to assess specific neurological functions. T-test for independent sample was used to compare the two groups of SS. Results: The two groups were 70 years old on average and equally distributed between men and women. No significant differences were observed between the two groups regarding socio demographic variables, functional autonomy (p=0,215) and neurological functions (p= 0,358). Comparing the two groups the group Alpha showed better general health (p=0.023), better memory (p=0.000), and communication (p=0.011) than the group Beta. Conclusion: SS who were familiar with, and expressed appreciation toward music showed significantly better quality of life than those who did not. These findings indicate that music implies long-term changes that have a facilitating effect on clinical recovery. Therefore, it seems important to encourage music exposure in SS patients, since besides offering a valuable addition to patient care this may have general effects on brain plasticity after strok