Abstract
ObjectivesThis study examined the association between dog and cat ownership, the onset of disability and all-cause mortality in an older population. Dog and cat owners take more regular exercise and have closer social relationships than non-owners. We further assess the beneficial effects of these moderating variables on the onset of disability and mortality.MethodsDog and cat ownership data were collected from 11233 community-dwelling adults age 65 years and older. These data were matched with data about the onset of disability held by the Japanese long-term care insurance system. Local registry data were used to ascertain all-cause mortality.ResultsDuring the approximately 3.5 year follow-up period, 17.1% of the sample suffered onset of disability, and 5.2% died. Logistic regression analysis indicated that, compared with a reference group of those who had never owned a dog (odds ratio fixed at 1.0), older adults who were currently dog owners had a significantly lower odds ratio of onset of disability (OR = 0.54 95% CI: 0.37–0.79). Our results further show that regular exercise interacts with dog ownership to reduce the risk of disability. The association of dog and/or cat ownership with all-cause mortality was not statistically significant.ConclusionsDog ownership appears to protect against incident disability among older Japanese adults. Additional benefits are gained from ownership combined with regular exercise. Daily dog care may have an important role to play in health promotion and successful aging.
Highlights
In the last century and a half, a major achievement of medical science has been greatly extended life expectancy
Dog ownership appears to protect against incident disability among older Japanese adults
Additional benefits are gained from ownership combined with regular exercise
Summary
In the last century and a half, a major achievement of medical science has been greatly extended life expectancy. In the wake of this achievement, successful aging and healthy aging have become important goals and are usually defined as the absence of disease and disability [1, 2]. Health promotion policy needs to focus on maintaining functional capacity without disability for as long as possible during the life span. Previous studies have reported that physical frailty greatly increases the risk of future disability [3,4,5]. A recent study indicated that older adults who were frail at baseline had 4 times the hazard ratio for incident disability compared with robust older adults; this during a 2-year follow-up period [3]. Frailty prevention is important for avoiding disability and so for successful and healthy aging
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