Effects of Personalized Noise Reduction Combined with Comfort Care on Pain and Negative Emotions in Patients with Acute Pancreatitis: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Objective: This study aims to examine the effects of personalized noise reduction combined with comfort care on pain, negative emotions, and sleep quality in patients with acute pancreatitis (AP) who are hospitalized. Methods: This retrospective study included 80 AP patients admitted between January 2022 and July 2025. The patients were divided into a comfort care group ( n  = 39) receiving routine nursing care plus standardized comfort care, and a combined care group ( n  = 41) additionally receiving personalized noise reduction management. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for pain, the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), the Single-Item Sleep Quality Scale (SQS), the EuroQol Five-Dimension Five-Level (EQ-5D-5L), and the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire-18(PSQ-18) scores were compared before and after 7 days of care. Continuous variables were analyzed using independent samples t-test for between-group comparisons and paired t-test for within-group comparisons. Categorical variables were compared using the chi-squared test. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Before care implementation, VAS, SAS, SDS, SQS, and EQ-5D-5L scores showed no statistically significant differences between the two groups ( P > 0.05). After 7 days of care, VAS, SAS, and SDS scores in both groups were significantly lower than before care ( P < 0.05). After care, the combined care group showed significantly lower scores than the comfort care group ( P < 0.05). SQS and EQ-5D-5L scores in both groups were significantly higher than before care ( P < 0.05). After care, the combined care group showed significantly higher scores than the comfort care group ( P < 0.05). PSQ-18 scores on day 7 showed significantly higher patient satisfaction in the combined care group than in the comfort care group ( P < 0.05). Conclusion: Personalized noise reduction combined with comfort care is a more effective way of alleviating pain, negative emotions, and sleep disturbances in AP patients than comfort care alone. This approach enriches comprehensive nursing with individualized acoustic environment management. However, due to the retrospective design of this study, prospective randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm these findings.