TABLE 1.
The effects of AAI on healthy individuals and patients with neurodegenerative disease.
| Participants (Experimental/Control) | Intervention | Main results | References | |||
| Functional decline | Age | Sample size | Type of AAI | Period/total number of sessions | ||
| Hormone imbalance | 42 ± 8/53 ± 10 | 10/10 | Short-term interaction between dogs and their owners | 1 session | Oxytocin levels ↑ | Handlin et al., 2011 |
| Cortisol levels ↓ | ||||||
| Insulin levels ↓ | ||||||
| 19.94 ± 1.66/− | 249/− | Animal visitation programs | 1 session | Cortisol levels ↓ | Pendry and Vandagriff, 2019 | |
| Stress | 39.9 ± 16.2/− | 9/− | Animal-assisted therapy | 5 sessions | Stress ↓ | González-Ramírez et al., 2013 |
| 18–25/− | 68/− | Animal-assisted programs | – | Stress ↓ | Haggerty and Mueller, 2017 | |
| 60–86 | 20/20 | Animal-assisted activity | 20 sessions | Stress ↓ | Branson et al., 2020 | |
| Cognitive dysfunction | 75.25 ± 6.06/75.1 ± 5.83 | 16/7 | Animal-assisted therapy | 6 months/24 sessions | MMSE ↑ | Menna et al., 2016 |
| 76.6 ± 5.0/75.0 ± 6.3 | 65/31 | Animal-assisted therapy | 6 months/24 sessions | MMSE ↑ | Santaniello et al., 2020 | |
| 78.6 ± 7.4/− | 9/− | Equine-assisted therapy | 10 weeks/20 sessions | MMSE ↑ | Borges de Araujo et al., 2019 | |
| 79.43 ± 6.06/83.4 ± 7.22 | 7/20 | Animal-assisted therapy | 11 weeks/5 sessions | MMSE ↑ | Kanamori et al., 2001 | |
| 82.1 ± 6.2/78.3 ± 10.3 | 12/12 | Animal-assisted therapy | 8 months/16 sessions | MMSE ↑ | Bono et al., 2015 | |
| Various symptoms | 59–67 | 3/− | Animal-assisted therapy | 12 sessions | Aphasia ↓ | Macauley, 2006 |
| 65 or older | 22/26 | Animal-assisted therapy | 12 weeks/24 sessions | Balance ↑ | Olsen et al., 2016a | |
| 65 or older | 25/26 | Animal-assisted therapy | 12 weeks/24 sessions | Quality of Life ↑ | Olsen et al., 2016b | |
| Depression ↓ | ||||||
| 62.6 ± 6.5/63.7 ± 6.7 | 41/41 | Horse-riding therapy | 12 weeks/6 sessions | Stroke recovery ↑ | Bunketorp-Käll et al., 2017 | |
| Balance ↑ | ||||||
| Balance ↑ | ||||||
| 81.33 ± 10.20/82.07 ± 8.65 | 27/27 | Animal-assisted therapy | 10 weeks/10 sessions | Agitation ↓ | Majic et al., 2013 | |
| Depression ↓ | ||||||
| 79 ± 6/− | 10/− | Animal-assisted activity | 1 week/3 sessions | Neuropsychiatric symptom ↓ | Mossello et al., 2011 | |
| Sadness ↓ | ||||||
| Pleasure ↑ | ||||||
| Alertness ↑ | ||||||
| 75.25 ± 6.06/75.1 ± 5.83 | 16/7 | Animal-assisted therapy | 24 weeks/24 sessions | Cognitive function ↑ | Menna et al., 2016 | |
| Depression↓ | ||||||