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General practice / Family practice
Research
Depression and anxiety in pet owners after a diagnosis of cancer in their pets: a cross-sectional study in Japan
  1. Yuko Nakano1,2,
  2. Masato Matsushima2,
  3. Azusa Nakamori1,
  4. Junshiro Hiroma3,
  5. Eiji Matsuo4,
  6. Hidetaka Wakabayashi2,5,
  7. Shuhei Yoshida2,6,
  8. Hiroko Ichikawa2,7,
  9. Makoto Kaneko2,8,
  10. Rieko Mutai2,9,
  11. Yoshifumi Sugiyama2,10,
  12. Eriko Yoshida2,11,
  13. Tetsuya Kobayashi1
  1. 1 Japan Small Animal Cancer Center, Japan Small Animal Medical Center, Tokorozawa, Japan
  2. 2 Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Research Center for Medical Sciences, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
  3. 3 Minamino Veterinary Clinic, Hachiouji, Japan
  4. 4 Aster Animal Hopital, Kawaguchi, Japan
  5. 5 Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yokohama City University Medical Center, Yokohama, Japan
  6. 6 Department of Community-Based Medical System, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan
  7. 7 Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Eiju General Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
  8. 8 Department of Family and Community Medicine, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
  9. 9 Department of Adult Nursing, The Jikei University School of Nursing, Chofu, Japan
  10. 10 Tarama Clinic, Okinawa Miyako Hospital, Miyakojima, Japan
  11. 11 Department of General Internal Medicine, Kawasaki-Kyodo Hospital, Japanese Health and Welfare Co-operative Federation, Kawasaki, Japan
  1. Correspondence to Dr Yuko Nakano; yuko-n{at}momo.so-net.ne.jp

Abstract

Objective To determine the presence and predictors of depression and anxiety in pet owners after a diagnosis of cancer in their pets.

Design Cross-sectional study.

Setting A veterinary medical centre specialised in oncology for dogs and cats and two primary veterinary clinics in Japan.

Participants The participants for analysis were 99 owners of a pet with cancer diagnosis received in the past 1–3 weeks and 94 owners of a healthy pet.

Main outcome measures Self-reported questionnaires were used to assess depression and anxiety. Depression was assessed using the Center of Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and anxiety was measured by using the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory-Form JYZ.

Results Depression scores were significantly higher in owners of a pet with cancer than owners of a healthy pet, even after adjustment for potential confounders (p<0.001). Within the owners of a pet with cancer, depression was significantly more common in those who were employed than those who were unemployed (p=0.048). State anxiety scores were significantly higher in owners of a pet with cancer than owners of a healthy pet, even after adjustment for potential confounders, including trait–anxiety scores (p<0.001). Furthermore, in owners of a pet with cancer, state anxiety was higher in owners with high trait anxiety (p<0.001) and in owners whose pets had a poor prognosis (p=0.027).

Conclusion The results indicate that some owners tended to become depressed and anxious after their pets had received a diagnosis of cancer. Employment may be a predictor of depression. High trait anxiety and a pet with a poor prognosis may increase owners’ state anxiety. Including the pet in a family genogram and attention to the pet’s health condition may be important considerations for family practice.

  • family practice
  • depression
  • anxiety
  • pet cancer
  • family genogram

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-024512

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    Footnotes

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Contributors YN conceived and designed the study, analysed and interpreted the data and drafted the manuscript. MM contributed to the conception and design of the study and analysis and interpretation of the data. AN, JH and EM contributed to the conception of the study and acquisition of the data. HW, SY, HI, MK, RM, YS and EY contributed to the interpretation of the data and discussions to help draft the manuscript. TK contributed to the conception of the study. All authors critically revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript and agree to be accountable for the accuracy of the work. YN is the guarantor.

    • Funding This study was supported by a grant for post-graduate students from Jikei University School of Medicine.

    • Disclaimer The study sponsor had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis, or interpretation, writing the report or the decision to submit the article for publication.

    • Competing interests MM received a lecture fee from the Japan Small Animal Medical Center, MM is an adviser of the Centre for Family Medicine Development practice-based research network, MM received a lecture fee and lecture travel fee from the Centre for Family Medicine Development, MM received a grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and MM is a Program Director of the Jikei Clinical Research Program for Primary-care.

    • Ethics approval The ethics committee of The Jikei University School of Medicine approved study protocols (Ethics number:25-049 7184).

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement No additional data are available.