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Association between pet ownership and physical activity levels, atopic conditions, and mental health in Singapore: a propensity score-matched analysis

Although existing literature increasingly suggests a positive influence of pet ownership on human physical activity levels, results from many European, American, and Japanese studies have been inconsistent. How pet ownership impacts mental health and atopy is likewise controversial and whether disti...

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Autores principales: Goh, Ying Xian, Tan, Joel Shi Quan, Syn, Nicholas L., Tan, Beverley Shu Wen, Low, Jia Ying, Foo, Yi Han, Fung, Waikit, Hoong, Brandon Yi Da, Pang, Junxiong
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7670461/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33199739
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-76739-2
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author Goh, Ying Xian
Tan, Joel Shi Quan
Syn, Nicholas L.
Tan, Beverley Shu Wen
Low, Jia Ying
Foo, Yi Han
Fung, Waikit
Hoong, Brandon Yi Da
Pang, Junxiong
author_facet Goh, Ying Xian
Tan, Joel Shi Quan
Syn, Nicholas L.
Tan, Beverley Shu Wen
Low, Jia Ying
Foo, Yi Han
Fung, Waikit
Hoong, Brandon Yi Da
Pang, Junxiong
author_sort Goh, Ying Xian
collection PubMed
description Although existing literature increasingly suggests a positive influence of pet ownership on human physical activity levels, results from many European, American, and Japanese studies have been inconsistent. How pet ownership impacts mental health and atopy is likewise controversial and whether distinct demographic subgroups experience differential effects is unclear. This cross-sectional study surveyed participants (n = 823) via a self-administered online questionnaire. Comparisons of outcomes between pet owners and non-pet owners with subgroup analyses were performed within a propensity score-matched subset (n = 566) of respondents. There were no differences in physical activity levels or mental health scores between pet owners and non-pet owners. In subgroup analyses, compared to non-pet owners, main pet caregivers reported 14.1 (95% CI 2.79–25.3) and 19.0 (95% CI 4.70–33.3) more minutes per week of moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity respectively and higher SF-36 emotional well-being (β = 2.7, 95% CI 0.100–5.32) and energy scores (β = 3.8, 95% CI 0.410–7.27). Age was a significant effect modifier of the association between pet ownership and emotional well-being, energy and social functioning scores, with greater scores above the ages of 39, 35 and 39 years old respectively (interaction p = 0.043, 0.044, 0.042). Finally, pet acquisition was associated with worsening of allergic rhinitis, while pet ownership cessation was associated with improvement of allergic rhinitis and eczema symptoms. To our knowledge, this is the first study addressing the public health impact of pet ownership in Southeast Asia and its findings add contextual nuance to suggest potential benefits derived from pet ownership.
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spelling pubmed-76704612020-11-18 Association between pet ownership and physical activity levels, atopic conditions, and mental health in Singapore: a propensity score-matched analysis Goh, Ying Xian Tan, Joel Shi Quan Syn, Nicholas L. Tan, Beverley Shu Wen Low, Jia Ying Foo, Yi Han Fung, Waikit Hoong, Brandon Yi Da Pang, Junxiong Sci Rep Article Although existing literature increasingly suggests a positive influence of pet ownership on human physical activity levels, results from many European, American, and Japanese studies have been inconsistent. How pet ownership impacts mental health and atopy is likewise controversial and whether distinct demographic subgroups experience differential effects is unclear. This cross-sectional study surveyed participants (n = 823) via a self-administered online questionnaire. Comparisons of outcomes between pet owners and non-pet owners with subgroup analyses were performed within a propensity score-matched subset (n = 566) of respondents. There were no differences in physical activity levels or mental health scores between pet owners and non-pet owners. In subgroup analyses, compared to non-pet owners, main pet caregivers reported 14.1 (95% CI 2.79–25.3) and 19.0 (95% CI 4.70–33.3) more minutes per week of moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity respectively and higher SF-36 emotional well-being (β = 2.7, 95% CI 0.100–5.32) and energy scores (β = 3.8, 95% CI 0.410–7.27). Age was a significant effect modifier of the association between pet ownership and emotional well-being, energy and social functioning scores, with greater scores above the ages of 39, 35 and 39 years old respectively (interaction p = 0.043, 0.044, 0.042). Finally, pet acquisition was associated with worsening of allergic rhinitis, while pet ownership cessation was associated with improvement of allergic rhinitis and eczema symptoms. To our knowledge, this is the first study addressing the public health impact of pet ownership in Southeast Asia and its findings add contextual nuance to suggest potential benefits derived from pet ownership. Nature Publishing Group UK 2020-11-16 /pmc/articles/PMC7670461/ /pubmed/33199739 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-76739-2 Text en © The Author(s) 2020 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Article
Goh, Ying Xian
Tan, Joel Shi Quan
Syn, Nicholas L.
Tan, Beverley Shu Wen
Low, Jia Ying
Foo, Yi Han
Fung, Waikit
Hoong, Brandon Yi Da
Pang, Junxiong
Association between pet ownership and physical activity levels, atopic conditions, and mental health in Singapore: a propensity score-matched analysis
title Association between pet ownership and physical activity levels, atopic conditions, and mental health in Singapore: a propensity score-matched analysis
title_full Association between pet ownership and physical activity levels, atopic conditions, and mental health in Singapore: a propensity score-matched analysis
title_fullStr Association between pet ownership and physical activity levels, atopic conditions, and mental health in Singapore: a propensity score-matched analysis
title_full_unstemmed Association between pet ownership and physical activity levels, atopic conditions, and mental health in Singapore: a propensity score-matched analysis
title_short Association between pet ownership and physical activity levels, atopic conditions, and mental health in Singapore: a propensity score-matched analysis
title_sort association between pet ownership and physical activity levels, atopic conditions, and mental health in singapore: a propensity score-matched analysis
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7670461/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33199739
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-76739-2
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