Pet Ownership Offsets the Risk of Cognitive Decline in Older Adults Living Alone

Written by Chrystal Moulton, Staff Writer. This analysis revealed that pet ownership was associated with slower rates of cognitive decline among older adults living alone but not those living with others (p<0.05).

The proportion of individuals living alone in 2021 was 28.5% in the US and 29.4% in the UK^1,2. These statistics represent an increase from previous decades. For older people, living alone increases the risk of cognitive decline³. Research has shown that pet ownership can offset the risk of cognitive decline in older adults living alone⁴. However, research in this area have also reported no benefits in certain areas of memory and function⁵. In the current study, researchers investigated the association between cognitive decline and pet ownership among older adults living alone⁶.

Researchers used data from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA). The ELSA study is a perspective cohort study on community dwelling adults 50 years and older conducted in the UK. The study began March 2002 and is currently ongoing. For this analysis, researchers used data collected from June 2010 until July 2019. Data was collected in waves. June 2010 until July 2019 represents data from wave 5 to wave 9. In wave 5, information on pet ownership and number of residents in each household was collected. Researchers used pet ownership and household size information from wave 5 to do their analysis. Furthermore, it was assumed the pet ownership and household status of eligible participants remained constant from wave 5 through wave 9. Researchers also assessed against potential covariates including age, ethnicity, sex, educational level, alcohol and smoking status, physical activity, general health, social isolation score, depressive symptoms, and self-reported hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. Using this data, they explored whether there was any association between pet ownership, rate of cognitive decline, and living alone among older adults.

A total of 10,095 individuals 50 years and older participated in wave 5 and, of them, 7,945 were eligible for this analysis. The average age was 66.3 years old with 56% women (n=4,446) and 44% men (n=3,499). 97.5% of participants were white and only 2.5% other ethnicities. 35% of participants were pet owners (n=2,791) and 26.9% lived alone (n=2,139). No significant differences were observed in baseline characteristics among the participants. Compared with non-pet owners living alone, pet owners living alone had a slower rate of decline in verbal fluency (β coefficient= 0.007, p=0.03), verbal cognition (β coefficient= 0.008, p=0.009) and verbal memory (β coefficient= 0.006, p=0.04) even after adjusting for potential covariates. Researchers also assessed living alone versus living with others on cognitive decline. Overall, living alone was associated with a higher rate of decline in all cognitive measures [verbal fluency (β coefficient= -0.015, p<0.001), verbal cognition (β coefficient= -0.021, p<0.001) and verbal memory (β coefficient= -0.018, p<0.001)]. Researchers conducted additional analysis by stratifying results from wave 5 to data on cognitive decline in wave 5 to wave 9. This analysis revealed that pet ownership was associated with slower rates of cognitive decline among older adults living alone but not those living with others (p<0.05). More specifically, pet ownership showed no significant association on older adults living with others. Furthermore, non-pet owners who were living alone had a higher rate of cognitive decline compared with pet owners who lived alone or with others and non-pet owners who lived with others [Table 1].

Table 1. Association between pet ownership and living alone on cognitive decline in older adults

Findings from this study show that older adults living alone could benefit from pet ownership since pet ownership is associated with a slower rate of cognitive decline in members of this population. However, because this study was comprised of mainly white participants, additional research will be needed to assess the affect of pet ownership in other ethnic groups.

Source: Li, Yanzhi, Wanxin Wang, Liwan Zhu, Liwen Yang, Herui Wu, Xiaojuan Zhang, Lan Guo, and Ciyong Lu. “Pet Ownership, Living Alone, and Cognitive Decline Among Adults 50 Years and Older.” JAMA Network Open 6, no. 12 (2023): e2349241-e2349241.

Open Access. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License

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Posted January 24, 2024.

Chrystal Moulton BA, PMP, is a 2008 graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago. She graduated with a bachelor’s in psychology with a focus on premedical studies and is a licensed project manager. She currently resides in Indianapolis, IN.

References:

1. Statista. Number of households in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2022, by household size. Accessed January 17, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/281627/households-in-the-united-kingdom-uk-by-size/
2. Statista. Distribution of households in the United States from 1970 to 2021, by household size. . Accessed January 17, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/242189/disitribution-of-households-in-the-us-by-household-size/
3. Desai R, John A, Stott J, Charlesworth G. Living alone and risk of dementia: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Ageing Res Rev. Sep 2020;62:101122. doi:10.1016/j.arr.2020.101122
4. McDonough IM, Erwin HB, Sin NL, Allen RS. Pet ownership is associated with greater cognitive and brain health in a cross-sectional sample across the adult lifespan. Front Aging Neurosci. 2022;14:953889. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2022.953889
5. Applebaum JW, Shieu MM, McDonald SE, Dunietz GL, Braley TJ. The Impact of Sustained Ownership of a Pet on Cognitive Health: A Population-Based Study. J Aging Health. Mar 2023;35(3-4):230-241. doi:10.1177/08982643221122641
6. Li Y, Wang W, Zhu L, et al. Pet Ownership, Living Alone, and Cognitive Decline Among Adults 50 Years and Older. JAMA Netw Open. Dec 1 2023;6(12):e2349241. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.49241