by Oliver King – 

As the world’s mental and physical health deteriorates, with heart disease[1] and depression[2] affecting millions, could dogs be the key to improving human health? A 2011 study into the relationship between pets, depression, and heart attack patients suggests so[3].

Heart disease is the world’s leading cause of death, killing 18 million people in 2016. A result of physical inactivity and high blood pressure, 85% of these deaths were from heart attacks and strokes[1]. Global mental health is worsening too. Rising by 32% between 1990 and 2007, depression is now the third biggest disease impacting global health[4]. Aiming to find if heart attack victims who have depression, known to reduce survivability[5], benefited from the social support that pet-ownership provides, the 2011 study combined these global mental and physical health challenges and found very interesting results[3].

A picture I took of my dog during a walk. Dogs encourage regular physical activity.

The study astonishingly found that after suffering a heart attack, patients who own pets were 67% less likely to die than non-pet owners. After leaving the hospital, pet-owning patients had a higher chance of surviving in the 3 years leading to their last follow-up appointment than non-owners did, with non-owners having a significant drop in chances of survival after the 2 years mark. The researchers concluded that pets, most effectively dogs, do improve the survivability of heart attack patients who are depressed, showing that dogs can save lives and improve our mental and physical health.[3]

Mentally, a pet’s companionship and social support significantly reduces our stress by relaxing us with imitated human contact[6]. This helps to lower our blood pressure, keeping the heart healthy and lowering the risk of heart disease[6,7]. Studies have also shown that dogs increase our general well-being and are now being more commonly prescribed to depressed patients through animal-assisted therapy[8].

Physically, the benefits of owning a pet are more pronounced with dogs. On average, dog owners walk 18 minutes more than non-dog owners do a week[9] (see Figure 1), leading to improved general fitness and a reduced risk of heart disease[7,9]. The mental health benefits of dogs are closely linked to our physical health improvements too; by walking a dog, or even being in its presence, chemicals are released from our brain, affecting vast areas of the body. These chemicals are effective at increasing blood flow, stabilising our heart rates, reducing blood pressure, and overall lowering our likelihood of developing heart disease. For more details see figure 1 of Arhant‐Sudhir et al.[7]

Pets can also have surprisingly substantial impacts on the economy. Studies into pet ownership and health spending found that pet owners visit the doctors 15% less annually than non-pet owners[10], saving the German and Australian governments (in 2000) €5.59 and $3.86 billion respectively[11]. These funds could be repurposed for wider public health benefit, like funding awareness campaigns into the health benefits of dogs.

The importance of pets in our everyday lives cannot be understated. Given the current COVID-19 pandemic, we are becoming more inactive[12] and likely more depressed[13]. From the conclusions drawn in the research[3], and the clear benefits they provide[6-11], I think dogs are the vital key to improving our health and well-being.

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References

1. World Health Organization (2017) Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Available at: https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cardiovascular-diseases-(cvds) [Accessed 02 December 2020].
2. World Health Organization (2020) Depression. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression [Accessed 02 December 2020].
3. Friedmann, E., Thomas, S. A. & Son, H. (2011) Pets, depression and long-term survival in community living patients following myocardial infarction. Anthrozoös, 24(3), 273-285.
4. GBD 2017 Disease and Injury Incidence and Prevalence Collaborators (2018) Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. The Lancet, 392(10159), 1789–1858.
5. Welin, C., Lappas, G. & Wilhelmsen, L. (2000) Independent importance of psychosocial factors for prognosis after myocardial infarction. Journal of Internal Medicine, 247(6), 629-639.
6. Miltiades, H. & Shearer, J. (2011) Attachment to pet dogs and depression in rural older adults. Anthrozoös, 24(2), 147-154.
7. Arhant‐Sudhir, K., Arhant‐Sudhir, R. & Sudhir, K. (2011) Pet ownership and cardiovascular risk reduction: supporting evidence, conflicting data and underlying mechanisms. Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology, 38(11), 734-738.
8. Souter, M. A. & Miller, M. D. (2007) Do animal-assisted activities effectively treat depression? A meta-analysis. Anthrozoös, 20(2), 167-180.
9. Bauman, A. E., Russell, S. J., Furber, S. E. & Dobson, A. J. (2001) The epidemiology of dog walking: an unmet need for human and canine health. The Medical Journal of Australia, 175(11), 632-634.
10. Headey, B. & Grabka, M. M. (2007) Pets and human health in Germany and Australia: National longitudinal results. Social Indicators Research, 80(2), 297-311.
11. Headey, B., Grabka, M., Kelley, J., Reddy, P. & Tseng, Y. P. (2002) Pet ownership is good for your health and saves public expenditure too: Australian and German longitudinal evidence. Australian Social Monitor, 5(4), 93-99.
12. Hall, G., Laddu, D. R., Phillips, S. A., Lavie, C. J. & Arena, R. (2020). A tale of two pandemics: How will COVID-19 and global trends in physical inactivity and sedentary behavior affect one another? Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, E-pub ahead of print. 10.1016/j.pcad.2020.04.005
13. Ettman, C. K., Abdalla, S. M., Cohen, G. H., Sampson, L., Vivier, P. M. & Galea, S. (2020) Prevalence of depression symptoms in US adults before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. JAMA Network Open, 3(9). 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.19686