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Pets May Curb Heart Disease Risk, Doctors Say
Owning a pet, especially a dog, probably lowers a person's risk of heart disease, a new statement from the American Heart Association says.
"There is a modest amount of data and reason to state that pet ownership may have some causal role in decreasing cardiovascular risk," said Dr. Glenn Levine, professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and chairman of the committee that wrote the statement.
Enough studies have looked at the question over the last decade that the time was right for a thorough scientific review of the data, Levine said.
The statement explains the evidence surrounding the question of whether pet ownership is linked with heart disease risk factors such as high blood pressure, obesity and physical activity levels.
Some studies that have looked for a link between pet ownership and blood pressure have found that people with pets tend to have lower blood pressure, and are less likely to have hypertension, than those who don't own a pet, the statement said. The only randomized controlled trial to look at the question included 30 participants, and found that when people adopted a dog, their blood pressure dropped.
"There is a modest amount of data and reason to state that pet ownership may have some causal role in decreasing cardiovascular risk," said Dr. Glenn Levine, professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and chairman of the committee that wrote the statement.
Enough studies have looked at the question over the last decade that the time was right for a thorough scientific review of the data, Levine said.
The statement explains the evidence surrounding the question of whether pet ownership is linked with heart disease risk factors such as high blood pressure, obesity and physical activity levels.
Some studies that have looked for a link between pet ownership and blood pressure have found that people with pets tend to have lower blood pressure, and are less likely to have hypertension, than those who don't own a pet, the statement said. The only randomized controlled trial to look at the question included 30 participants, and found that when people adopted a dog, their blood pressure dropped.
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