Pet ownership and maintenance of cognitive function in community-residing older adults: evidence from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA).

Pet ownership has been associated with reduced deterioration in physical health as older adults age; little research focused on deterioration in cognitive function. We examine the relationship of pet, dog, cat ownership, and dog walking to changes in cognitive function among 637 generally healthy community-dwelling older adults (185 pet owners) aged 50-100 years (M = 68.3, SD = 9.6) within the BLSA. Cognitive assessments every 1-4 years over 1-13 years (M = 7.5, SD = 3.6) include the California Verbal Learning (Immediate, Short, Long Recall); Benton Visual Retention; Trail-Making (Trails A, B, B-A); Digit Span; Boston Naming (Naming); and Digit Symbol Substitution (Digit Symbol) Tests. In linear mixed models, deterioration in cognitive function with age was slower for pet owners than non-owners (Immediate, Short, Long Recall; Trails A,B,B-A; Naming; Digit Symbol); dog owners than non-owners (Immediate, Short Recall; Trails A,B; Naming; Digit Symbol); and cat owners than non-owners (Immediate, Short, Long Recall; Naming), controlling for age and comorbidities. Among dog owners (N = 73) walkers experienced slower deterioration than non-walkers (Trails B, B-A; Short Recall). All ps ≤ 0.05. We provide important longitudinal evidence that pet ownership and dog walking contribute to maintaining cognitive function with aging and the need to support pet ownership and dog walking in design of senior communities and services.

Dog Walking and the Social Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Loneliness in Older Adults.

Pet ownership can provide important companionship and facilitate social connections, which may be particularly important to socially isolated older adults. Given the significant deleterious impact of loneliness on health and wellbeing in later life, many predicted that public safety measures imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic would greatly increase loneliness, particularly among vulnerable populations like older adults. We investigated whether dog walking buffers loneliness in the context of stressors imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Longitudinal survey data were obtained from a Florida community-based sample of adults (n = 466) aged 60+ years old in September 2018 and October 2020. Using OLS regression models, we tested: a) the association between the social consequences of COVID-19 and changes in loneliness, and b) the buffering effect of dog walking on this relationship. The high social consequences of COVID-19 were related to increases in loneliness. Walking a dog daily buffered the relationship. These results suggest potential therapeutic effects of dog walking for the promotion of mental health in older adults, particularly in the context of stressful situations that accentuate risks for loneliness.