Animal-Assisted Therapy for Hospitalized Heart Failure Patients
Condition: Heart Failure
MeSH terms: Heart Failure
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      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.
    

Detailed 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.
    

Intervention name(s): Animal-assisted Therapy
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Factorial Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Supportive Care
Keywords: animal-assisted therapy; dog hospital visit; heart failure