Notari Lorella, Burman Oliver, Mills Daniel
Animal Behaviour, Cognition and Welfare Group, School of Life Sciences, Joseph Banks Laboratories, University of Lincoln, Lincoln LN6 7DL, UK.
Animal Behaviour, Cognition and Welfare Group, School of Life Sciences, Joseph Banks Laboratories, University of Lincoln, Lincoln LN6 7DL, UK.
Physiol Behav. 2015 Nov 1;151:609-16. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2015.08.041. Epub 2015 Sep 3.
In human medicine, psychiatric side effects among patients on corticosteroid therapy are widely reported, but this appears to have been largely overlooked in the animal literature despite glucocorticoids being widely used in veterinary medicine. Therefore the aim of the current study was to identify possible psycho-behavioural changes in dogs treated with corticosteroids. Two different methodologies were used. Firstly, dog owners were asked to fill a 12 item questionnaire aimed at further validating the initial results of a previous survey relating to changes seen when their dog was receiving corticosteroid treatment. In a second study, a population of dogs undertook behavioural tests aimed at objectively identifying changes when receiving corticosteroid therapy. In the first study, a sample of owners whose dogs were receiving treatment for dermatological, orthopaedic or other conditions evaluated their dogs' behaviour on and off therapy, using a seven point scale. The survey was completed by 44 dog owners with dogs receiving treatment with a range of corticosteroid preparations (mainly prednisolone and methylprednisolone) and 54 dog owners with dogs receiving treatment with other drugs, mainly antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Dogs under corticosteroid treatment were reported to be significantly less playful, more nervous/restless, more fearful/less confident, more aggressive in the presence of food, more prone to barking, more prone to startle, more prone to reacting aggressively when disturbed, and more prone to avoiding people or unusual situations. In the second study, eleven “treatment” dogs were tested both before and during corticosteroid treatment with either methyl-prednisolone or prednisolone to assess their sensitivity to a potentially aversive sound stimulus. Eleven control dogs were also tested at the same time intervals in the same environment. Dogs were exposed to a brief dog growl while they explored bowls containing food and their behaviour was video recorded. Treatment dogs were found to investigate the area in the vicinity of the bowls for significantly less time and to eat significantly fewer pieces of food when on corticosteroids, compared to control dogs, after hearing the growl. These results provide the first empirical evidence of possible adverse psycho-behavioural side effects in a veterinary clinical setting following the use of corticosteroids, and suggest the need for concomitant behavioural advice when these drugs are used in general veterinary practise to avoid the risks associated with these changes.
在人类医学中，广泛报道了接受皮质类固醇治疗的患者出现精神方面的副作用，但尽管糖皮质激素在兽医学中广泛使用，这一点在动物文献中似乎很大程度上被忽视了。因此，本研究的目的是确定接受皮质类固醇治疗的犬类可能出现的心理行为变化。采用了两种不同的方法。首先，要求狗主人填写一份包含12个项目的问卷，旨在进一步验证先前一项关于其狗接受皮质类固醇治疗时所观察到变化的调查的初步结果。在第二项研究中，一组狗接受了行为测试，旨在客观地确定接受皮质类固醇治疗时的变化。在第一项研究中，其狗正在接受皮肤病、骨科或其他疾病治疗的一组主人，使用七点量表评估他们的狗在接受治疗期间和停止治疗后的行为。44位狗主人完成了这项调查，他们的狗正在接受一系列皮质类固醇制剂（主要是泼尼松龙和甲泼尼龙）治疗，另有54位狗主人的狗正在接受其他药物治疗，主要是抗生素和非甾体抗炎药。据报告，接受皮质类固醇治疗的狗明显不那么爱玩耍，更紧张/不安，更恐惧/缺乏信心，在有食物时更具攻击性，更容易吠叫，更容易受到惊吓，在受到干扰时更容易做出攻击反应，并且更容易避开人或不寻常的情况。在第二项研究中，11只“治疗”犬在接受甲泼尼龙或泼尼松龙皮质类固醇治疗之前和期间都接受了测试，以评估它们对潜在厌恶声音刺激的敏感性。11只对照犬也在相同的时间间隔在相同的环境中进行了测试。当狗在探索装有食物的碗时，让它们接触短暂的狗叫声，并对它们的行为进行录像。结果发现，与对照犬相比，治疗犬在听到叫声后，在服用皮质类固醇时，在碗附近区域探索的时间明显减少，吃的食物块数也明显减少。这些结果提供了首个实证证据，证明在兽医学临床环境中使用皮质类固醇后可能会出现不良心理行为副作用，并表明在一般兽医实践中使用这些药物时需要同时提供行为方面的建议，以避免与这些变化相关的风险。
