The effects of dog acquisition on mid-to-older aged adults’ physical activity

Background:
Dog ownership has been associated with increased physical activity, however few studies among older adults have examined whether this is a result of acquiring a dog.
Purpose:
To use longitudinal data to examine the effects of dog acquisition on changes in physical activity among community-dwelling mid-to-older aged adults.
Methods:
Participants aged 40-65 years in the ‘How Areas in Brisbane Influence healTh and AcTivity’ (HABITAT) cohort study self-reported total physical activity, total walking, and dog ownership across five waves and nine years of follow up. Physical activity measures were compared for males (n=904) and females (n=1166) between a subset of participants who had acquired a dog between waves 1 and 2 and continuing non-dog owners using linear mixed effects models with group-by-time interactions and restricted cubic splines.
Results:
Trajectories of walking and total physical activity differed significantly between female dog acquired and non-dog owner groups (interaction p<0.05). Females who acquired a dog increased their walking from 132.3mins/week (95%CI 98.6, 166.0) at wave 1 to 201.6mins/week (95%CI 169.9, 233.3) at wave 5. Weekly walking among female non-dog owners remained reasonably stable from wave 1 to wave 5. Differences in females’ total physical activity were due to small increases among the dog acquired group and small decreases among the non-dog owner group. Trajectories of physical activity did not differ between dog ownership groups for males, nor for moderate or vigorous physical activity in females.
Conclusions:
Acquiring a dog was associated with increased walking among mid-to-older aged females.
Practical implications:
Dog ownership could be a way for mid-to-older aged females to maintain regular physical activity during ageing.
Funding:
EA is supported by an RTP Fees Offset, RTP Stipend, a UWA and Graduate Women (WA) Research Scholarship, and a Stan and Jean Perron Top Up Scholarship.