Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Unit of Geriatric Medicine, Umeå University, 90187, Umeå, Sweden.
Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Section of Sustainable Health, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
BMC Public Health. 2021 Dec 21;21(1):2313. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-12401-4.
Dog ownership (DO) has been associated with higher levels of self-reported walking and physical activity. However, compared to device-based measures, self-reported measures of physical activity may suffer from bias due to recall and social desirability. They are also incapable of quantifying light-intensity physical activity (LPA) and step volume, both of which may have important health benefits, especially for older adults. In this study, we investigated the association of DO with accelerometer-measured physical activity of different intensities and daily steps in 70-year-old individuals.
This was a population-based cross-sectional study including 1406 participants aged 70 years [54.1% female] who participated in a health survey in Umeå, Sweden between February 2017-November 2019. All participants self-reported DO [yes/no]. Daily averages of LPA, moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA), and steps per day [steps/d] were measured for 1 week using hip-mounted Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometers. Associations were investigated using linear- and logistic regression models, adjusted for sociodemographic and health-related factors, date of examination, and accelerometer wear time.
The prevalence of DO was 14.1% [N = 199]. After adjustment for all covariates, DO was associated with 19.2 more minutes/d of LPA [95% CI, 8.8-29.6], 11.4 more minutes/d of MVPA [95% CI, 8.0-14.9] and 1738 more steps/d [95% CI, 1326-2149]. DO was also associated with twice the odds of meeting the physical activity recommendations [OR, 2.07, 95% CI, 1.48-2.90]. Exploratory interaction analyses showed that the association between DO and steps/d was stronger [P = 0.030] in female [β = 2165, 95% CI, 1585-2744] than in male [β =1255, 95% CI, 664-1845], with a similar trend for MVPA [P = 0.082].
In this study of community-dwelling 70-year-old individuals, DO was associated with higher levels of daily LPA, MVPA, and steps. With the limitation of the observational design of the study, these findings add knowledge regarding the beneficial role that DO may play for promoting physical activity in the older population. In turn, these findings could support the development and evaluation of targeted interventions seeking to promote dog-friendly environments and facilitate dog walking in the community.
养狗与自我报告的步行和身体活动水平较高有关。然而，与基于设备的测量相比，身体活动的自我报告测量可能由于回忆和社会期望而存在偏差。它们也无法量化低强度身体活动（LPA）和步数，而这两者都可能对健康有重要益处，尤其是对老年人。在这项研究中，我们研究了养狗与 70 岁个体的不同强度的加速度计测量的身体活动和日常步数之间的关联。
这是一项基于人群的横断面研究，包括 1406 名 70 岁参与者[54.1%为女性]，他们于 2017 年 2 月至 2019 年 11 月期间参加了瑞典于默奥的一项健康调查。所有参与者均自我报告养狗[是/否]。使用臀部佩戴的 Actigraph GT3X+加速度计在一周内测量每日 LPA、中等到剧烈强度的身体活动（MVPA）和每天的步数[步/天]。使用线性和逻辑回归模型进行关联分析，调整了社会人口统计学和健康相关因素、检查日期和加速度计佩戴时间。
养狗的比例为 14.1%[N=199]。在调整所有协变量后，养狗与每天多 19.2 分钟的 LPA[95%CI，8.8-29.6]、多 11.4 分钟的 MVPA[95%CI，8.0-14.9]和每天多 1738 步[95%CI，1326-2149]相关。养狗也与达到身体活动建议的可能性增加两倍相关[OR，2.07，95%CI，1.48-2.90]。探索性交互分析表明，养狗与步数/d 之间的关联在女性中更强[P=0.030]（β=2165，95%CI，1585-2744），而在男性中则较弱[β=1255，95%CI，664-1845]，对于 MVPA 也存在类似的趋势[P=0.082]。
在这项对社区居住的 70 岁个体的研究中，养狗与更高水平的每日 LPA、MVPA 和步数相关。鉴于研究的观察性设计的限制，这些发现增加了关于养狗可能在促进老年人身体活动方面发挥有益作用的知识。反过来，这些发现可以支持开发和评估旨在促进社区内友好型狗环境和促进遛狗的针对性干预措施。
