Research Team for Social Participation and Community Health, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo, Japan.
Japan Environment and Children's Study Programme Office, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Ibaraki, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2019 Dec 9;9(1):18604. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-54955-9.
Accumulating evidence from studies of human-animal interaction highlights the physiological, psychological, and social benefits for older owners of dogs and cats. This longitudinal study examined whether experience of dog/cat ownership protects against incident frailty in a population of community-dwelling older Japanese. Among 7881 non-frail community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or older who completed a mail survey in 2016, 6,197 (mean [SD] age, 73.6 [5.3] years; 53.6% women) were reevaluated in a 2018 follow-up survey. Frailty was assessed with the Kaigo-Yobo Checklist. Incident frailty was defined as a score of four or higher in the follow-up survey. Overall, 870 (14.0%) were current dog/cat owners, 1878 (30.3%) were past owners and 3449 (55.7%) were never owners. During the 2-year follow-up period, 918 (14.8%) developed incident frailty. Mixed-effects logistic regression models showed that the odds ratio for incident frailty among dog/cat owners, as compared with never owners, current owners were 0.87 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.69-1.09) and past owner were 0.84 (0.71-0.98), after controlling for important confounders at baseline. In stratified analysis, the risk of incident frailty was lower for past dog owners than for cat owners. Longer experience of caring for a dog requires physical activity and increases time outdoors spent dog walking and thus may have an important role in maintaining physical and social function and reducing frailty risk among older adults.
越来越多的关于人与动物互动的研究证据强调了狗和猫对老年主人在生理、心理和社会方面的益处。本纵向研究调查了在日本社区居住的老年人群中，是否有养狗/养猫的经历可以预防虚弱的发生。在完成了 2016 年邮寄调查的 7881 名非虚弱的社区居住的 65 岁及以上成年人中，有 6197 人（平均[SD]年龄 73.6[5.3]岁；53.6%为女性）在 2018 年的随访调查中重新进行了评估。使用介护老人评估量表（Kaigo-Yobo Checklist）来评估虚弱。虚弱的发生定义为在随访调查中得分为 4 分或以上。总体而言，870 人（14.0%）为当前的狗/猫主人，1878 人（30.3%）为曾经的主人，3449 人（55.7%）从未养过宠物。在 2 年的随访期间，有 918 人（14.8%）发生了虚弱。混合效应逻辑回归模型显示，与从不养宠物的人相比，当前养狗/猫的人和曾经养过狗/猫的人发生虚弱的比值比分别为 0.87（95%可信区间[CI]：0.69-1.09）和 0.84（0.71-0.98），在控制了基线时的重要混杂因素后。在分层分析中，与养猫者相比，养狗者发生虚弱的风险较低。照顾狗的经验越久，就需要越多的体力活动，花在遛狗上的户外时间也会增加，这可能对维持老年人的身体和社会功能以及降低虚弱风险有重要作用。
