What Dogs Bring: Elderlies & Seniors

Data and facts about the advantages of having dogs around elderlies & seniors.

Jump to: Dementia

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Dementia

Jump to: Study from Japan

Large Scale Study on Pet Ownership and Dementia

External link: 
Yu Taniguchi, Satoshi Seino, Tomoko Ikeuchi, Toshiki Hata, Shoji Shinkai, Akihiko Kitamura, Yoshinori Fujiwara, Protective effects of dog ownership against the onset of disabling dementia in older community-dwelling Japanese: A longitudinal study, Preventive Medicine Reports, Volume 36, 2023, 102465, ISSN 2211-3355, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102465

Benefits of Pet Ownership

Independent variableIncident dementia (n = 11194)Propensity score in GEE, Odds Ratio
(n = 8323 for dog ownership and n = 9579 for cat ownership)
Experience with dog ownership
Past and never (n = 10235, 91.4 %)5.1%1
Current (n = 959, 8.6 %)3.6 %0.6
Experience with cat ownership
Past and never (n = 10490, 93.7 %)5.0 %1
Current (n = 704, 6.3 %)4.5 %0.98

Impact of Exercise Habit

GroupExercise HabitOdds Ratio of Developing Dementia
Current Dog OwnersRegular0.37
Current Dog OwnersNo Exercise0.89
Past/Never Dog OwnersRegular0.69
Past/Never Dog OwnersNo Exercise1

Impact of Social Isolation

GroupSocial IsolationOdds Ratio of Developing Dementia
Current Dog OwnersNo0.41
Current Dog OwnersYes0.43
Past/Never Dog OwnersNo0.56
Past/Never Dog OwnersYes1

Research Summary | Back to Top