5597311 THE EFFECT OF MUSIC AND DANCE AS FORMS OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY ON THE HEALTH STATUS OF PEOPLE WITH SICKLE CELL DISEASE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Abstract

Background: Physical activity and exercise are not always evident in people with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). Therefore, other forms of exercise therapy such as music and dance are often favoured but their effect on the health status of people with SCD has only been studied to a limited extent. This research is performed by three students of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Antwerp. They chose the topic from a strong personal interest, namely one of the students has a family member with SCD, and all have a shared interest in music and dance. Aims: The objective of this systematic review of the literature is to examine the effectiveness of music and dance as forms of physical activity on the health status of people with SCD. Methods: A systematic search of the literature, including studies between 2010 and 2021, was conducted using the electronic medical databases Pubmed and Web of Science. The search strategy incorporated keyword combinations related to people with SCD, music, dance, physical activity and health status. The ROBINS-1, Rob 2.0 and Qualsyst tools were used to evaluate the risk of bias. Results: After the screening process, ten articles were included. Published studies were conducted in Brazil, the USA, France and Saudi Arabia. The total number of participants was 1122 and the age varied between 7-58 years. From all 1122 participants, 550 (49.02%) were women, 407 (36.27%) men and 165 (14.71%) were unspecified. Most studies conclude that exercise and music therapy have positive effects on the health status and quality of life of people with SCD, significantly improving pain intensity and mood. The main finding is that standardized, supervised, and patient-adapted moderate-intensity endurance-exercise training can be safe in patients with SCD without an increased risk for a vaso-occlusive crisis. However, due to heterogenous intervention programs, varying risk of bias and the inclusion of small sample sizes it remains difficult to draw general conclusions. Surprisingly, none of the studies explicitly explored the effect of dance movement therapy in this population. Summary - Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review to identify the effect of music and dance as forms of physical activity on the health status of people with SCD. Both activities have a wide range of physical and mental benefits and can be a way to stay fit for people of all ages. Further studies with a randomized study design are needed to explore the impact and long-term effects and to compare different forms of musical engagement and dance interventions in individuals. Although multiple benefits have been described, more evidence would motive healthcare professionals to include music and dance therapies as a standard of care in the treatment of people with SCD.