Salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase as stress markers to evaluate an individualized music intervention for people with dementia: feasibility and pilot analyses.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: We investigated salivary biomarkers of stress, more specifically, cortisol and alpha-amylase, to evaluate effects of individualized music listening (IML) in people with dementia. METHOD: Participants were N = 64 nursing home residents with dementia (meanage = 83.53 ± 7.71 years, 68.8% female). Participants were randomly assigned to either listening to their favorite music every other day for a period of six weeks (intervention), or standard care (control). Using the Saliva Children`s Swab (SCS), saliva was collected before, after, and 20 min after IML sessions at the beginning and end of the intervention period for the analysis of salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol. RESULTS: Using the SCS was feasible in people with dementia. Nevertheless, there was no effect of IML on salivary stress markers. DISCUSSION: Although using SCS was feasible, active patient engagement is required. Future studies need to corroborate findings in larger samples. TRIAL REGISTRATION German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00015641, ISRCTN registry ISRCTN59052178.