Older adult dog owners are more physically active than their non-dog-owning counterparts

Gee, NR; Dall, P; Ellis, S; Ellis, B; Granat, MH; Mills, D

Abstract

The study examined the influence of dog ownership on physical activity (PA) in community dwelling older adults using a longitudinal design and an objective measure of PA (activPAL monitor).

Eighty six participants (aged 65–81 years) were matched on gender, age, and socio-economic status into dog owner (DO) and non-dog owner (NDO) pairs. Each participant wore a waterproofed activPAL activity monitor continuously for a week, three times over a year.

The results revealed that DOs walked significantly longer at a moderate cadence (31vs.11 min/day) and took more steps (9,700 vs.7,200 steps/day) than NDOs. DOs also sat for significantly less time overall (9.4 vs. 10.1 hours/day) than NDOs.

This study provides the first objective data demonstrating that older DOs walk more than NDOs and indicates that this walking was undertaken at a moderate cadence. On average DOs met recommended public health guidelines (30 min/day of moderate PA), but NDOs did not.

Citation

Gee, N., Dall, P., Ellis, S., Ellis, B., Granat, M., & Mills, D. (2017). Older adult dog owners are more physically active than their non-dog-owning counterparts. Innovation in Aging, 1(Supl_1), 293-293. https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igx004.1086

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jun 30, 2017
• Deposit Date: Oct 29, 2018
• Journal: Innovation in Aging
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Volume: 1
• Issue: Supl_1
• Pages: 293-293
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igx004.1086
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igx004.1086
• Related Public URLs: https://academic.oup.com/innovateage