Dying in the dark: sunshine, gender and outcomes in myocardial infarction

Beauchemin, Kathleen M.; Hays, Peter L.

doi:10.1177/014107689809100703

Cited by 169 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Exposure to both natural and artificial light may have positive effects on mood in healthy and depressed individuals (Beauchemin et al, 1990;Partonen et al, 2000;Yamada et al, 1995) and has been associated with reduced mortality in cardiovascular and cancer patients (Beauchemin et al, 1998;Lefkowitz et al, 1994;Freedman et al, 2002). Light exposure may impact pain by increasing serotonin levels in the body (Ernberg et al, 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pain in its environmental context: Implications for designing environments to enhance pain control

Malenbaum

Keefe

Williams

et al. 2008

Pain

142

102

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There has recently been heightened recognition that environmental factors can influence pain. Clinicians involved in delivering multidisciplinary pain programs often structure the social environment of their treatment settings to help promote adaptive responses to pain. Recent theories of pain (e.g. Craig, 2003, Melzack, 1999, Fields & Basbaum, 1999 highlight the role that sensory stimuli from the environment can play in influencing the pain experience.Despite the awareness if the environment's influence on pain, patients with pain continue to be treated in settings that are devoid of distracting stimuli. The typical treatment room is painted white, lacking decoration, sparsely furnished, and windowless. Patient's auditory stimuli may range from the noise generated by overhead lighting to urgent, loud paging requests, to sounds of other patients suffering. The visual and sensory settings in which we usually treat pain patients probably do little to relieve pain and may exacerbate pain. This paper considers the influence of environmental stimuli including light, nature scenes and sounds, and video and virtual reality (VR) stimuli on pain and examines the implications for designing pain treatment environments to enhance pain control. Literature Review LightLight is an integral part of any building and can vary according to time of day, location of the structure, window number and style, and numerous other structural and environmental elements. Light influences people in the building and available evidence suggests that exposure to light has implications for pain experiences. Walch et al. (2005) recently conducted a prospective study testing the effects of exposure to sunlight on pain medication in 89 patients who had undergone spine surgery. Patients were randomly assigned to a bright or dim room in the hospital. Bright rooms were exposed to 46% more natural light than dim rooms. Patients in the bright rooms required 22% less opioidequivalent analgesic medications which resulted in 21% decrease in medication costs. Bright room patients reported significantly greater decreases in stress and marginally significant decreases in pain. The fact that recovering in a room with more natural light lowered medication intake is noteworthy, particularly since lower medication intake is associated with fewer side effects and lower costs.Exposure to light may enhance recovery from painful medical conditions. Beauchemin and Hays (1998) conducted a retrospective study that examined the impact of natural light exposure Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pain in its environmental context: Implications for designing environments to enhance pain control

Malenbaum

Keefe

Williams

et al. 2008

Pain

142

102

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“…Natural light in patient care areas reduced agitation in elderly patients, decreased length of stay, lessened the need for pain medication, and reduced depression. [27][28][29][30][31][32][33] Researchers 34 reported that the cost of an inefficient system for navigation in a major regional hospital was more than $220 000 per year or $448 per bed. Much of this cost involved 4500 hours of hospital staff other than information staff giving directions.…”

Section: Patients and Their Families Weigh In On Evidence-based Hospimentioning

confidence: 99%

Patients and Their Families Weigh in on Evidence-Based Hospital Design

Trochelman

Albert

Spence

et al. 2012

Critical Care Nurse

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to design and build health care facilities founded on research or the best available information, ensuring that the relatively permanent physical environment facilitates the delivery of quality care, thereby improving patients' outcomes and safety. 2 Review of the Literature on EBD in Critical and Acute CareSubstantial support exists for the view that a health care structure itself affects quality of care, patients' safety and satisfaction, as well as staff satisfaction and service efficacy. 3 In a report to the Center for Health Design funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Ulrich and associates 4 identified more than 600 studies that link hospital design with clinical outcomes. In recent years, evidence-based design (EBD) has become a more pronounced guiding principle in health care. The concept of EBD is BACKGROUND In 2 landmark publications, the Institute of Medicine reported on significant deficiencies in our current health care system. In response, an area of research examining the role of the physical environment in influencing outcomes for patients and staff gained momentum. The concept of evidence-based design has evolved, and the development of structural guidelines for new hospital construction was instituted by the American Institute of Architects in 2006.OBJECTIVE To determine perceptions of patients and their families of evidence-based design features in a new heart center.METHODS Hospitalized patients and their families, most of whom were in intensive care and step-down units, were surveyed and data from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems were reviewed to determine perceptions of evidence-based design features incorporated into a new heart center and to assess patients' satisfaction with the environment. RESULTS Responses were reviewed and categorized descriptively. Five general environment topics of focus emerged: privacy, space, noise, light, and overall atmosphere. Characteristics perceived as being dissatisfying and satisfying are discussed.CONCLUSIONS Critical care nurses must be aware of the current need to recognize how much the physical environment influences care delivery and take steps to maximize patients' safety, satisfaction, and quality of care. This article has been designated for CE credit. A closed-book, multiple-choice examination follows this article, which tests your knowledge of the following objectives:1. Discuss the concept of evidence-based design in health care environments 2. Identify evidence-based design features associated with improved patient care 3. Recognize the role of physical environment in influencing patient outcomes

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“…Prior studies precipitated excitement regarding the therapeutic value of bright light or windows in beneficially altering human disease, yet more contemporary studies have failed to replicate these observations (1,(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8). Thus, whether light can acutely modify the biology of critical illness has never been described.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Prior studies precipitated excitement regarding the therapeutic value of bright light, noting that more light could benefit certain diseases (1)(2)(3). But this initial enthusiasm has been dampened by later studies that failed to replicate these findings (4)(5)(6)(7)(8).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Responding to a progressively shorter photoperiod, energetic resources are concentrated in endogenous mechanisms (i.e., immune function) necessary for seasonally appropriate survival strategies. Although these collective data suggest that light may influence adaptive responses to and during illness, the ramifications of acute alterations in light exposure on health and disease remain to be defined (1)(2)(3)(4)7).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Blue light reduces organ injury from ischemia and reperfusion

Yuan

Collage

Huang

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Evidence suggests that light and circadian rhythms profoundly influence the physiologic capacity with which an organism responds to stress. However, the ramifications of light spectrum on the course of critical illness remain to be determined. Here, we show that acute exposure to bright blue spectrum light reduces organ injury by comparison with bright red spectrum or ambient white fluorescent light in two murine models of sterile insult: warm liver ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) and unilateral renal I/R. Exposure to bright blue light before I/R reduced hepatocellular injury and necrosis and reduced acute kidney injury and necrosis. In both models, blue light reduced neutrophil influx, as evidenced by reduced myeloperoxidase (MPO) within each organ, and reduced the release of high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), a neutrophil chemotactant and key mediator in the pathogenesis of I/R injury. The protective mechanism appeared to involve an optic pathway and was mediated, in part, by a sympathetic (β3 adrenergic) pathway that functioned independent of significant alterations in melatonin or corticosterone concentrations to regulate neutrophil recruitment. These data suggest that modifying the spectrum of light may offer therapeutic utility in sterile forms of cellular injury.

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Dying in the dark: sunshine, gender and outcomes in myocardial infarction

Cited by 169 publications

References 11 publications

Pain in its environmental context: Implications for designing environments to enhance pain control

Pain in its environmental context: Implications for designing environments to enhance pain control

Patients and Their Families Weigh in on Evidence-Based Hospital Design

Blue light reduces organ injury from ischemia and reperfusion

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