Does owning a pet influence signs of ageing?

There are long standing claims that animal companionship may be linked to human health and with around half of UK households owning a pet, it could be concluded that many people believe interaction with animals is life enhancing. Studies have suggested there are potential positive and negative health consequences of pet ownership.

These include:

• Grief and distress felt after a pet’s death

• Improved phycological health from a sense of companionship with more than 10% of older adults indicating that pet ownership is their major source of companionship

• Increase in physical activity from regular walks with a dog that could influence weight regulation and heart health

With more than 10% of older adults indicating that pet ownership is their major source of companionship, a team of researchers from the University College London and the University of Cambridge therefore set out to examine these relationships in older people. The researchers used data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) – an ongoing longitudinal study of a representative sample of men and women who, when recruited in 2002-03, were ages 50 or more and living in England. The researchers analysed data on more than 8,700 adults with an average age of 67 with data being collected every two years using interviews and questionnaires and physical functioning assessments.

After considering all the variables such as smoking and drinking, the researchers found no evidence of a strong association of any type of pet ownership with walking speed, lung function, standing up, grip, strength, balance, nor three blood inflammatory markers, memory or depression. The researchers also point out that this is an observational study, so no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect. Nevertheless, they conclude:

 

 

At least in the present cohort study of older adults in England, animal companionship seems to confer essentially no relation with standard and physiological biomarkers of ageing

Associations of pet ownership with biomarkers of ageing: population based cohort study

Owning a pet does not appear to slow the rate of ageing, as measured by standard indicators, suggest the authors of a study published in the latest issue of The BMJ.