Animal-Assisted Therapy for Hospitalized Heart Failure Patients
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About
Effects of complementary therapies on heart failure, a leading cause of hospitalization, are unknown. Animal-assisted therapy improves physiological and psychosocial variables in healthy and hypertensive subjects.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether a 12-minute hospital visit with a therapy dog improves hemodynamics, lowers neurohormone levels, and decreases state anxiety in patients hospitalized with heart failure.
Full description
Context: Effects of complementary therapies on heart failure, a leading cause of hospitalization, are unknown. Animal-assisted therapy improves physiological and psychosocial variables in healthy and hypertensive subjects.
Objectives: To determine whether a 12-minute hospital visit with a therapy dog improves hemodynamics, lowers neurohormone levels, and decreases state anxiety in patients hospitalized with heart failure.
Design, Setting, Participants: A 3-group (volunteer-dog team, volunteer only, and control) randomized repeated-measures experimental design was used in 76 adult patients with advanced heart failure hospitalized between November 2001 and July 2004. Longitudinal analysis was used to model differences among the 3 groups at 3 time points.
Interventions: One group received a 12-minute visit from a volunteer with a therapy dog, another group received a 12-minute visit from a volunteer, and the control group received usual care, at rest. Data were collected at baseline, 8 minutes after the intervention started, and 16 minutes (4 minutes after intervention ended).
Main Outcome Measures: Blood pressure, heart rate, pulmonary artery pressure, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, right atrial pressure, cardiac index, systemic vascular resistance, plasma levels of epinephrine and norepinephrine, and state anxiety.
Results: Compared with the control group, patients visited by a volunteer-dog team showed significantly greater decreases in pulmonary artery pressure during (5.34, P = .003) and after (5.78, P = .001) the intervention, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure during (3.09, P = .02) and after (4.31, P = .002) the intervention, and epinephrine (17.54, P = .04) and norepinephrine (240.14, P = .02) levels during the intervention. After the intervention, patients visited by the volunteer-dog team showed the greatest decrease in state anxiety over patients visited by a volunteer only (6.65, P = .003) and the control group (9.13, P < .0001).
Conclusions: Animal-assisted therapy improves cardiopulmonary pressures, neurohormone levels, and anxiety in patients hospitalized with heart failure.
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Inclusion criteria
- diagnosis of heart failure requiring medical management with an indwelling pulmonary artery catheter
- age between 18 and 80 years
- ability to read, write, and speak English
- mental status: alert and oriented to person, place, and time
- SVR greater than 1200 dyne · sec · cm-5 at least once within 12 hours from the start of data collection
Exclusion criteria
- SVR less than 1200 dyne · sec · cm-5
- allergies to dogs
- immunosuppression, defined as a white blood cell count of less than 4500 cells/mm3
- infection as determined by an elevated white blood cell count exceeding 11,000 cells/mm3
- body temperature greater than 38ºC
- decreased level of consciousness
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Data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov
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