Study finds owning a dog linked to better heart health

Dogs have a habit of winning hearts, but scientists say they can also help keep them healthy.

Dogs can boost heart health. Picture: PA

New research suggests that owning a pet may help maintain cardiovascular health, especially if that pet is a dog.

Using data from the Kardiozive Brno 2030 study, the research examined the association of pet ownership - specifically dog ownership - with cardiovascular disease risk factors and cardiovascular health.

It first established baseline health and socio-economic information for more than 2,000 subjects in the city of Brno, Czech Republic, between January 2013 and December 2014.

Follow-up evaluations are scheduled for five-year intervals until 2030.

In the 2019 evaluation, the study looked at 1,769 participants with no history of heart disease and scored them based on Life's Simple 7 ideal health behaviours and factors.

As outlined by the American Heart Association, they are body mass index, diet, physical activity, smoking status, blood pressure, blood glucose and total cholesterol.

Researchers compared the cardiovascular health scores of pet owners overall to those who did not own pets.

They then compared dog owners to other pet owners, and those who did not own pets.

Approximately 42% of subjects owned any type of pet, 24.3% owned a dog and 17.9% owned another animal.

Dr Andrea Maugeri, a researcher with the International Clinical Research Centre at St Anne's University Hospital in Brno, said: "In general, people who owned any pet were more likely to report more physical activity, better diet and blood sugar at ideal level.

"The greatest benefits from having a pet were for those who owned a dog, independent of their age, sex and education level."

He added that the study findings supported the idea that people could adopt, rescue or purchase a pet as a potential strategy to improve their cardiovascular health as long as pet ownership led them to a more physically active lifestyle.

Pet owners, and specifically dog owners, were more likely to report physical activity, diet, and blood glucose at ideal level, and smoking at poor level.

This resulted in higher cardiovascular health scores than non-pet owners, according to the study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Compared with owners of other pets, dog owners were more likely to report physical activity and diet at ideal level.

The comparison of dog owners with non-dog owners yielded similar results.