Animal-Assisted Therapy in Patients Hospitalized With Heart Failure

TLDR

Animal‑assisted therapy improves physiological and psychosocial variables in healthy and hypertensive patients. The study aims to determine whether a 12‑minute therapy‑dog visit improves hemodynamic measures, lowers neurohormone levels, and reduces state anxiety in patients with advanced heart failure. A 3‑group randomized repeated‑measures design with 76 adults compared a 12‑minute therapy‑dog visit, a 12‑minute volunteer visit, and usual care, with longitudinal analysis of measurements taken at baseline, 8 minutes, and 16 minutes. The volunteer‑dog group showed greater reductions than controls in systolic pulmonary artery pressure, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and state anxiety, indicating that therapy‑dog visits improve cardiopulmonary pressures, neurohormone levels, and anxiety in hospitalized heart‑failure patients.

Abstract

Animal-assisted therapy improves physiological and psychosocial variables in healthy and hypertensive patients.To determine whether a 12-minute hospital visit with a therapy dog improves hemodynamic measures, lowers neurohormone levels, and decreases state anxiety in patients with advanced heart failure.A 3-group randomized repeated-measures experimental design was used in 76 adults. Longitudinal analysis was used to model differences among the 3 groups at 3 times. One group received a 12-minute visit from a volunteer with a therapy dog; another group, a 12-minute visit from a volunteer; and the control group, usual care. Data were collected at baseline, at 8 minutes, and at 16 minutes.Compared with controls, the volunteer-dog group had significantly greater decreases in systolic pulmonary artery pressure during (-4.32 mm Hg, P = .03) and after (-5.78 mm Hg, P = .001) and in pulmonary capillary wedge pressure during (-2.74 mm Hg, P = .01) and after (-4.31 mm Hg, P = .001) the intervention. Compared with the volunteer-only group, the volunteer-dog group had significantly greater decreases in epinephrine levels during (-15.86 pg/mL, P = .04) and after (-17.54 pg/mL, P = .04) and in norepinephrine levels during (-232.36 pg/mL, P = .02) and after (-240.14 pg/mL, P = .02) the intervention. After the intervention, the volunteer-dog group had the greatest decrease from baseline in state anxiety sum score compared with the volunteer-only (-6.65 units, P =.002) and the control groups (-9.13 units, P < .001).Animal-assisted therapy improves cardiopulmonary pressures, neurohormone levels, and anxiety in patients hospitalized with heart failure.