Neuroscientists at the University of Michigan found that seniors who owned pets for more than five years had higher cognitive scores than seniors who didn’t have pets. Results of the study published in the Journal of Aging and Health.
Owning a pet is an aspect of lifestyle that influences health through emotional support and stress reduction. The team set out to find out if there was an association between pet ownership and cognitive health scores among the elderly.
The scientists analyzed data from the Health and Retirement study, which included information on 20,000 participants, including an animal’s presence and cognitive abilities. Surveys were conducted biennially from 2012 to 2016. The results showed that 47% of respondents reported owning a pet in 2012. At this point, 19% had a pet between 1 and 5 years and 28% had owned a pet for more than 5 years.
“We found that among people aged 65 and older, those who owned animals for more than five years showed better cognitive performance than those who did not own or have owned them for less than five years. However, there was no difference in cognitive scores among these groups when considering participants younger than 65 years. There was no difference,” he said.
Consistent pet ownership was associated with higher rates of immediate and delayed word recall.