Dog Ownership Linked To Lower Risk Of Heart Disease, Death: Study

Having a dog has its share of benefits and a new study finds that dog owners have a lower risk of death due to cardiovascular disease and other causes.

The study from Sweden was published this week in the journal Scientific Reports. Researchers looked at 3.4 million Swedish residents between the ages of 40 and 80 without any prior cardiovascular disease over a 12-year period starting in 2001.

All dogs in Sweden are required to be registered with a unique identifier and The Swedish Kennel Club has registered all dogs with a certified pedigree with information on the owner's personal identity since 2001. The researchers say that in 2012, an estimated 83 percent of dogs were registered in one of the two registers.

Researchers identified participants from the Swedish national register and the Swedish Twin Register.

According to the study, one way by which dog ownership could reduce cardiovascular risk and mortality is by alleviating stress factors like social isolation, depression and loneliness, all of which are reportedly lower in dog owners. Researchers also say that apart from the social support, dog owners achieve more physical activity and spent more time outdoors.

The study also found that dog ownership helped single people the most when it came to protection from cardiovascular disease and owners of hunting breeds had the lowest risk of cardiovascular disease. Ownership of purebreds was associated with a lower risk of death overall.

"A very interesting finding in our study was that dog ownership was especially prominent as a protective factor in persons living alone, which is a group reported previously to be at higher risk of cardiovascular disease and death than those living in a multi-person household," Mwenya Mubanga, a junior author of the study, said in a press release. "Perhaps a dog may stand in as an important family member in the single households. The results showed that single dog owners had a 33% reduction in risk of death and 11% reduction in risk of myocardial infarction during follow-up compared to single non-owners."

Researchers acknowledge that their study can't provide evidence of a causal effect between dog ownership and the risk of heart disease and death. Another limitation researchers acknowledged was the risk of reverse causation because individuals with disabilities or chronic illnesses may be less likely to own a dog.

"These kind of epidemiological studies look for associations in large populations but do not provide answers on whether and how dogs could protect from cardiovascular disease," Tove Fall, a senior author of the study, said. "We know that dog owners in general have a higher level of physical activity, which could be one explanation to the observed results. Other explanations include an increased well-being and social contacts or effects of the dog on the bacterial microbiome in the owner."

Watch: Man's Best Friend: Owning A Dog Linked To Longer Life

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