Sammanfattning

Objective To study the association between dog ownership and cardiovascular risk factors.Design A nationwide register-based cohort study and a cross-sectional study in a subset.Setting A cohort of 2 026 865 participants was identified from the Register of the Total Population and linked to national registers for information on dog ownership, prescribed medication, hospital admissions, education level, income and country of birth. Participants were followed from 1 October, 2006, to the end of the study on 31 December, 2012, assessing medication for a cardiovascular risk factor, emigration and death. Cross-sectional associations were further assessed in 10 110 individuals from the TwinGene study with additional adjustment for professional level, employment status, Charlson comorbidity index, disability and tobacco use.Participants All Swedish residents aged 45-80 years on 1 October, 2006.Main outcome measures Initiation of medication for hypertension, dyslipidaemia and diabetes mellitus.Results After adjustment for confounders, the results indicated slightly higher likelihood of initiating antihypertensive (HR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.03) and lipid-lowering treatment (HR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.04) in dog owners than in non-owners, particularly among those aged 45-60 years and in those owning mixed breed or companion/toy breed dogs. No association of dog ownership with initiation of treatment for diabetes was found in the overall analysis (HR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.95 to 1.01). Sensitivity analyses in the TwinGene cohort indicated confounding of the association between dog ownership and prevalent treatment for hypertension, dyslipidaemia and diabetes mellitus, respectively, from factors not available in the national cohort, such as employment status and non cardiovascularchronic disease status.Conclusions In this large cohort study, dog ownership was associated with a minimally higher risk of initiation of treatment for hypertension and dyslipidaemia implying that the previously reported lower risk of cardiovascular mortality among dog owners in this cohort is not explained by reduced hypertension and dyslipidaemia. These observations may suffer from residual confounding despite access to multiple important covariates, and future studies may add valuable information.

Publicerad i

BMJ open
2019, Volym: 9, nummer: 3, artikelnummer: e023447
Utgivare: BMJ PUBLISHING GROUP

SLU författare

• Egenvall, Agneta

  • Institutionen för kliniska vetenskaper, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Associerade SLU-program

Människa-djurinteraktioner


Globala målen

SDG3 Säkerställa hälsosamma liv och främja välbefinnande för alla i alla åldrar


UKÄ forskningsämne

Folkhälsovetenskap, global hälsa, socialmedicin och epidemiologi


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023447

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/100764