Evidence that dog ownership protects against the onset of disability in an older community-dwelling Japanese population

Taniguchi, Yu; Seino, Satoshi; Headey, Bruce; Hata, Toshiki; Ikeuchi, Tomoko; Abe, Takumi; Shinkai, Shoji; Kitamura, Akihiko

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0263791

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Missing values (n): education level (3), financial difficulties (1), living alone (8), home type (6), home location (22), home characteristics (5), comorbidities (13), BADL impairment (6), IADL impairment (36), walking difficulty (18), fear of falling (4), memory difficulties (12), depressive symptoms (3), anxiety symptoms (11), feelings of loneliness (4), usual social support (235), emotional support (15), previous participation in group activities (35), having a dog (4), having a cat (4), unfamiliarity with communication technology (30) and death of a partner in the past year (23).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Older people’s experience of the partial lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland: a cross-sectional study

et al. 2023

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ObjectivesThis study aimed to evaluate older people’s experience of a COVID-19 partial lockdown (16 March–11 May 2020) in Lausanne, Switzerland.Setting and participantsCommunity-dwelling participants of the Lausanne cohort (Lc65+) in 2020, aged 71–86 years (n=2642).Design and outcomeThis cross-sectional study was nested within the Lc65+ longitudinal study. A specific COVID-19 questionnaire was sent on 17 April 2020 to evaluate participants’ experience of the lockdown (outcome). Multinomial logistic regression models were used to determine the sociodemographic, living environment, health and social factors associated.ResultsOut of 2642 participants, 67.8% described the lockdown as ‘somewhat’ difficult (reference group), 21.5% as ‘not at all’ difficult (positive) and 10.7% as ‘very or extremely’ difficult (negative). The relative risk of a positive experience was higher in participants living alone (relative risk ratio, RRR=1.93, 95% CI 1.52 to 2.46) or in a house (RRR=1.49, 1.03 to 2.16); lower in those who reported fear of falling (RRR=0.68, 0.54 to 0.86), functional difficulties (RRR=0.78, 0.61 to 0.99), feeling of loneliness (RRR=0.67, 0.49 to 0.91), unfamiliarity with communication technologies (RRR=0.69, 0.52 to 0.91), usual social support (RRR=0.71, 0.50 to 0.93), previous participation in group activities (RRR=0.74, 0.59 to 0.92) and among women (RRR=0.75, 0.59 to 0.95). The relative risk of a negative experience was higher in participants with fear of falling (RRR=1.52, 1.07 to 2.15), and lower in those who had a terrace/garden (RRR=0.66, 0.44 to 0.99) and owned a dog (RRR=0.32, 0.11 to 0.90).ConclusionsOnly one in 10 participants experienced the lockdown as very or extremely difficult. Specific interventions targeting vulnerability factors, such as fear of falling, could lessen the impact of any future similar situation.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Older people’s experience of the partial lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland: a cross-sectional study

et al. 2023

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“…Our previous longitudinal studies revealed that the odds ratios for incidence of frailty in community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or older were 0.87 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.69-1.09) for current dog or cat owners and 0.84 (0.71-0.98) for past owners, after controlling for important confounders, compared with "never" owners [16,17]. We also recently reported that older adults who currently owned a dog had a lower odds ratio of onset of disability (OR = 0.54, 95% CI: 0.37-0.79) compared to a reference group that had never owned a dog [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…This study defined pets as dog, cat or other animals, however detailed information for other animals is not clear. Previous studies have reported superior protective effects against adverse health outcomes for dog ownership compared to cat ownership [16][17][18]. Further research is needed to examine the medical and long-term care costs among dog owners compared to cat owners.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 97%

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Pet ownership-related differences in medical and long-term care costs among community-dwelling older Japanese

et al. 2023

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This study examined the differences in medical and long-term care costs over 18 months between pet owners and non-owners among community-dwelling older Japanese. Pet ownership data were collected from 460 community-dwelling adults age 65 years and older. These data were matched with data from the National Health Insurance, health insurance for older people, and Long-Term Care Insurance beneficiaries for 17 months back from the survey on pet ownership. Pet-ownership group-specific trajectories in monthly medical and long-term care costs were modeled by a generalized estimating equation. Among pet owners (n = 96, 20.9%) and non-pet owners (n = 364, 79.1%) there were no significant differences in baseline demographic or health characteristics including chronic disease and self-reported long-term care level. At baseline, pet owners had estimated monthly medical costs of ¥48,054 (SE = 0.11; $418), compared to ¥42,260 (SE = 0.06; $367) for non-pet owners. The monthly medical costs did not differ significantly between the two groups during the 18-month follow-up period. At baseline, estimated monthly long-term care costs of pet owners and non-pet owners were ¥676 (SE = 0.75; $6) and ¥1,420 (SE = 0.52; $12), respectively. During the follow-up period, the non-pet owner to owner ratio of monthly long-term care costs was 1.2 at minimum and 2.3 at maximum. This study showed that monthly long-term care costs for pet owners were approximately half those of non-pet owners. Pet owners might use long-term care services less frequently, or use lighter care services.

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“…These complex differences in outcomes among dog and cat owners may have resulted in different needs in caring for different species. For instance, most dogs – but not cats – require daily walking, meaning dog ownership may contribute to maintaining the physical health of older adults (Taniguchi et al, 2022). Given that cats are generally seen as being easier than dogs to take care of, an increasing number of older Japanese pet owners now prefer cats to dogs.…”

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confidence: 99%

Pet Ownership and the Future Time Perspective of Older Adults

et al. 2022

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Abstract. Time perspectives may change as people age and become more aware of their limited time remaining in life. A research question is whether awareness of one’s limited time remaining associates with pet ownership among older adults. Although owning pets in old age involves both benefits and risks, the association between pet ownership and subjective remaining time in life remains understudied. The present study examines the associations between pet ownership and the subjective perception of time remaining in life among older adults. We assessed the experience of pet ownership (dog or cat) and age-related future time perspectives of 329 community-dwelling older adults in Japan. By adopting three constructs of the Future Time Perspective scale, we found that current dog ownership was associated with more limited future opportunities but not with limited time left or future constraints. Older dog owners may focus on the present rather than new future opportunities, yet they may see the future of their dogs that require care. Yet no such association was observed among current cat owners. The present findings extend the previous research of age-related future time perspectives by suggesting that pet ownership in late adulthood may be another contributing factor that needs to be better understood.

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Evidence that dog ownership protects against the onset of disability in an older community-dwelling Japanese population

Cited by 12 publications

References 31 publications

Older people’s experience of the partial lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland: a cross-sectional study

Older people’s experience of the partial lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland: a cross-sectional study

Pet ownership-related differences in medical and long-term care costs among community-dwelling older Japanese

Pet Ownership and the Future Time Perspective of Older Adults

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