Key points from article :
Seniors who own a dog may be at lower risk of disability than those who have never been dog owners.
Researchers gathered data from 11,233 Japanese adults aged 65 to 84.
Current dog owners were approximately half as likely to have a disability than those who had never been dog owners.
This relationship held true even after accounting for other sociodemographic and health factors that could influence disability risk.
Dog owners who exercised regularly had even lower risk of disability.
Cat ownership was not associated with any difference in disability risk.
Neither dog nor cat ownership was associated with reduced risk of death from any cause.
The daily care, companionship and exercise of a pet dog may have an important role to play in successful aging.
Future research could investigate mechanisms, or examine relationships between dog ownership and disability risk in other countries.
Study by National Institute for Environmental Studies, led by Yu Taniguchi, published in PLoS One.
