Difficulty Playing Music Follows Treatment for BC

TOPLINE:

Over a quarter of musicians experienced difficulty with musical endeavors during or after the breast cancer treatment with 57% reporting unresolved issues at survey time. Chemotherapy emerged as the most impactful treatment with 71% of recipients citing it as most detrimental to musical ability.

METHODOLOGY:

• Playing instruments and singing require high levels of fine sensorimotor control, making musicians potentially vulnerable to unique manifestations of breast cancer treatment toxicities. These include chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, upper-extremity dysfunction after surgery and radiation, and joint pain associated with aromatase inhibitors.
• A nine-item Musical Toxicity Questionnaire was distributed to 4075 participants in the Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer Registry, achieving a 46% response rate with 1871 respondents.
• Researchers identified musicians by asking if participants played an instrument or sang in the last 10 years with 535 qualifying respondents reporting 802 unique musical endeavors.
• Analysis included assessment of acute musical toxicity during or after the treatment with participants detailing specific symptoms, affected musical attributes, and timeline of resolution.
• Multivariable logistic regression and classification tree analyses were conducted to evaluate relationships between acute musical toxicity and treatment characteristics.

TAKEAWAY:

• Among 535 self-identified musicians, 27% (144/535) reported acute musical toxicity with decreased endurance being the most common difficulty (64%, 92/144) followed by “decreased accuracy” (44%, 64/144).
• Younger patients reported significantly more acute musical toxicity (P =.005), with 34% (14/41) of those younger than 40 years and 36% (42/117) of those aged 40-49 years affected.
• Multivariable analysis revealed that the receipt of chemotherapy (P <.001) and comprehensive regional nodal irradiation vs no radiation (P =.023) were significantly associated with acute musical toxicity.
• Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System scores at 1 year post-diagnosis showed that each additional point in mental and physical health scores decreased acute musical toxicity odds by 8.6% and 14%, respectively.

IN PRACTICE:

“These results will help oncology care teams counsel musicians, answer questions about impacts on musicality, and provide a timeline for resolution of musical symptoms,” the authors of the study wrote.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Jessica F. Burlile, MD, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, New York. It was published online in JCO Oncology Practice.

LIMITATIONS:

According to the authors, this study faced several limitations including recall bias with a median time of 5.3 years from diagnosis to survey completion. The researchers noted that musical abilities may have declined due to lack of practice, injuries, or natural aging during this period, which was not accounted for. Additionally, the survey did not include items specific to neurocognitive function, though multiple respondents noted difficulty with processing music or sight reading in free response areas.

DISCLOSURES:

This study received support from Department of Radiation Oncology Innovation Funds, Mayo Clinic, and a grant from the Mayo Fellows Association. Additional disclosures are noted in the original article.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.