Can pets help prevent cognitive decline as we age?
Researchers explored that question using data from the United Kingdom.
For most people, cognitive abilities start to diminish as they grow older.
But a new study suggests that animal companions may offer certain health benefits for older adults who live alone.
"Pet ownership offset the association between living alone and declining rates of verbal memory and verbal fluency," researchers wrote in a study published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open, an international peer-reviewed open access medical journal.
The cohort study observed 7,945 participants who were at least 50 years old to determine the impact of owning a pet on their health.
It suggested a connection with slower rates of decline in verbal memory and fluency among those who live alone with pets as opposed to those who lived with other people.
However, researchers said randomized clinical trials are still needed to obtain more evidence.
"It remains unclear whether pet ownership is associated with cognitive decline and to what extent pet ownership mitigates the association between living alone and cognitive decline," according to the study.
The research had limitations as it only assessed verbal memory and fluency. Cognitive function includes episodic memory, executive function, attention, reasoning, processing speed and accuracy. As well, the study didn't look at the length of pet ownership and mostly included people who were white.
The research used information from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), where the same group of respondents are interviewed over multiple years to measure changes in their health, economic and social circumstances. This latest study used ELSA data from multiple interviews conducted from June 2010 to July 2011 and June 2018 to July 2019.
Of the participants, the mean age was about 66 years old, 44 per cent were men and 56 per cent were women.
No effective therapy currently exists for cognitive decline or dementia, the researchers say. They note that the number of people with dementia globally will increase from 57 million in 2019 to 153 million in 2050.
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