Fondation MIRA, 1820 rang Nord Ouest, Sainte-Madeleine, Québec, Canada.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2010 Sep;35(8):1187-93. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2010.02.004. Epub 2010 Mar 1.
Children with Autism Syndrome Disorders (ASDs) exhibit social, communicative, and behavioral deficits. We know that human interaction with dogs, which is thought to serve as a social catalyst, results in a decrease of cortisol levels in healthy adults. Introducing service dogs to children with ASD is an attractive idea that has received growing attention in recent decades. However, no study has measured the physiological impact of service dogs on these children. Therefore, the goal of our study was to assess the effects of service dogs on the basal salivary cortisol secretion of children with ASD. We measured the salivary cortisol levels of 42 children with ASD in three experimental conditions; prior to and during the introduction of a service dog to their family, and after a short period during which the dog was removed from their family. We compared average cortisol levels and Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR) before and during the introduction of the dog to the family and after its withdrawal. We found that the introduction of service dogs translated into a statistically significant diminished CAR. Before the introduction of service dogs, we measured a 58% increase in morning cortisol after awakening, which diminished to 10% when service dogs were present. The increase in morning cortisol jumped back to 48% once the dogs were removed from the families (p<0.05). However, service dogs did not have an effect on the children's average diurnal cortisol levels. These results show that the CAR of children with ASD is sensitive to the presence of service dogs, which lends support to the potential behavioral benefits of service dogs for children with autism.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童表现出社交、沟通和行为方面的缺陷。我们知道，人类与狗的互动被认为是一种社交催化剂，它会导致健康成年人的皮质醇水平下降。将服务犬引入自闭症儿童中是一个很有吸引力的想法，近年来受到了越来越多的关注。然而，目前尚无研究测量服务犬对这些儿童的生理影响。因此，我们的研究目的是评估服务犬对自闭症儿童基础唾液皮质醇分泌的影响。我们在三个实验条件下测量了 42 名自闭症儿童的唾液皮质醇水平：在将服务犬引入其家庭之前和期间，以及在犬只从其家庭中短暂移除后的一段时间内。我们比较了在引入犬只之前和期间以及从家庭中移除后，平均皮质醇水平和皮质醇觉醒反应（CAR）。我们发现，服务犬的引入导致 CAR 显著下降。在引入服务犬之前，我们测量到晨醒后皮质醇增加了 58%，而当服务犬在场时，皮质醇增加减少到 10%。一旦犬只从家庭中移除，晨醒后皮质醇增加又回升至 48%（p<0.05）。然而，服务犬对儿童的日间平均皮质醇水平没有影响。这些结果表明，自闭症儿童的 CAR 对服务犬的存在很敏感，这为服务犬对自闭症儿童的潜在行为益处提供了支持。
