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. 2026 Feb 25;17:1750786. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1750786

Table 3.

Subgroup analysis of music intervention on HRV indices.

HRV parameter Subgroup Number of studies MD 95% CI I 2 p value
HFnu OD 4 6.21 −2.56, 14.99 80 0.17
SAFSD 3 −0.45 −1.78, 0.89 0 0.51
Short duration 3 14.25 1.27, 27.22 82 0.03
Long duration 4 3.58 −3.07, 10.24 70 0.29
Stan 3 12.79 −1.92, 27.5 90 0.09
PS 2 0.53 −5.44, 6.51 0 0.86
LSF 3 8.21 −5.62, 22.03 80 0.24
LFnu OD 4 −2.41 −9.16, 4.34 72 0.48
SAFSD 3 −2.8 −3.82, −1.78 48 <0.00001
Short duration 4 −5.62 −12.55, 1.32 68 0.11
Long duration 3 −9.3 −23.33, 4.74 86 0.19
Stan 3 −5.11 −17.40, 7.17 84 0.41
PS 2 −4.77 −14.64, 5.1 78 0.34
LSF 3 −10.22 −23.16, 2.72 76 0.12
LF/HF OD 8 −0.27 −0.72, 0.18 81 0.24
SAFSD 7 −0.5 −0.82, −0.18 51 0.002
HC 3 −1.83 −5.81, 2.14 84 0.37
PTI 2 0.02 −0.8, 0.85 94 0.96
Short duration 9 −0.31 −0.75, 0.13 91 0.17
Medium duration 4 −0.17 −0.75, 0.4 15 0.55
Long duration 6 −0.11 −0.89, 0.68 80 0.79
Stan 6 −0.41 −1.31, 0.48 85 0.37
PS 6 −0.55 −0.78, −0.32 45 <0.00001
LSF 7 −0.15 −0.67, 0.38 91 0.58
RMSSD OD 4 0.4 −5.1, 5.99 81 0.88
SAFSD 2 13.04 10.78, 15.3 0 <0.00001
HC 3 2.54 −0.49, 5.57 0 0.1
Short duration 4 6.87 −0.97, 14.7 84 0.09
Medium duration 3 4.45 2.52, 6.38 14 <0.00001
Long duration 3 −3.31 −7.88, 1.25 42 0.15
Stan 2 0.19 −9.57, 9.95 0 0.97
PS 3 4.45 2.52, 6.38 14 <0.00001
LSF 5 5.1 −3.54, 13.74 93 0.25
SDNN OD 3 −2.4 −15.9, 11.11 92 0.73
SAFSD 3 2.51 −7.4, 12.41 68 0.62
HC 3 −3.66 −9.69, 2.37 0 0.23
Short duration 4 1.25 −5.53, 8.03 19 0.72
Medium duration 2 2.22 −4.44, 8.87 56 0.51
Long duration 4 −4.71 −11.82, 2.4 61 0.19
Stan 3 −4.34 −12.22, 3.55 0 0.28
PS 3 5.23 2.38, 8.09 40 0.0003
LSF 4 −3.12 −10.97, 4.73 75 0.44
PNN50 OD 4 0.18 −3.37, 3.72 87 0.92
SAFSD 2 7.58 5.27, 9.9 0 <0.00001
Short duration 2 1.46 −0.19, 3.1 33 0.08
Long duration 4 5.67 −2.86, 14.19 87 0.19
LSF 5 5.28 0.02, 10.54 92 0.05
TP OD 3 38 −18, 95 0 0.18
HC 2 −82 −370, 205 0 0.57
Short duration 2 15 −32, 63 0 0.52
Medium duration 2 −82 −370, 205 0 0.57
Long duration 2 112 −53, 276 0 0.18
Stan 2 28.53 −31.00, 88.06 0 0.35
PS 3 −13.13 −89.12, 62.86 0 0.73

CI, confidence interval; HC, Healthy Cohort; HF, high frequency; HRV, heart rate variability; LF, low frequency; LSF, Live or Special-Format Music Stimuli; MD, mean difference; nu, normalized units; OD, Organic Diseases; PNN50, % of number of pairs of adjacent RR intervals differing by >50 ms; PS, Participant-Selected Music; PTI, Preterm Infants; RMSSD, root mean square of successive RR interval differences; SAFSD, Patients with Stress/Anxiety/Fear/Sleep Disorders; SDNN, standard deviation of normal-to-normal RR intervals; Stan, Standardized Music Stimuli; TP, total power. The bold values mean statistically significant.