Acute effect of orange chromatic environment on perceived health status, pain, and vital signs during chemotherapy treatment

Abstract

Purpose The study is aimed at assessing the acute effect of orange color and natural light exposure on cancer patients during chemotherapy sessions. Warmer environments and rooms receiving more sunlight hours were expected to impact vital signs, quality of life, and pain symptoms.

Methods We used a single-group repeated-measures clinical trial design. For the purpose of the study, chemotherapy rooms were modified based on two experimental factors: color (white vs. orange) and sunlight orientation (south vs. north). On four consecutive sessions, cancer patients were randomly assigned to one of the following conditions: orange-north, orange-south, white-north, and white-south. They received chemotherapy per standard of care. The following outcomes were assessed: blood pressure, body temperature, heart rate, and European Quality of Life Five-Dimension Five-Level Scale Questionnaire (EUROQOL-5D-5L) including the visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS).

Results Statistically significant beneficial effect of orange color room in self-rated health was found (p = 0.036, d = 0.28). Small differences in other parameters (body temperature, d = 0.34; diastolic blood pressure, d = 0.37; systolic blood pressure, d = 0.28) did not reach statistical significance. No differences were found based on room orientation.

Conclusions Compared with a cool-color design, a warm-color living environment could have a positive effect on patients’ well-being during chemotherapy sessions. Although the clinical effect size on perceived health status and vital signs could be considered small, the cost-effectiveness analysis would support the use of the proposed configurations. More research is still needed.