Is a dog's best friend a man? The definition appears to be accurate even after scientific verification. And it could be extended to pets in general if what a new study just published in Jama Network Open suggests is confirmed: that having a pet saves your memory if you're over 50 and living alone. In practice, it has the anti-loneliness effect of friends. So much so that the link to slower rates of cognitive decline is seen in single pet owners, rather than those over 50 who live with other people. “Further studies are needed” to assess whether the presence of a dog or cat at one’s side “mitigates” the loneliness effect and its association with loss of mental performance, the authors emphasize. But the work is now showing signs that point in this direction. It was signed by scientists from the School of Public Health at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China.
The authors have analyzed data from a cohort of 7,945 people over 50 and found that having a pet at home was associated with slower declines in memory and language skills. The data examined is data from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging in the periods June 2010–July 2011 and June 2018–July 2019. Average age of the participants: 66.3 years. Over 4,400 were women. The tests showed that living alone was a major “changing” factor and that the presence of a pet appeared to slow the decline in the functions considered. While joint association analyzes showed no significant differences in the rate of decline in composite verbal cognition, verbal memory, or verbal fluency between pet owners living alone and pet owners living with others. Therefore, the authors say, it is possible that owning a pet somewhat offsets the association between living alone and cognitive decline in older people.
In view of aging societies The decline in cognitive function after a certain age is one of the major public health problems, emphasize experts. It is estimated that the number of people affected by dementia worldwide will rise from 57 million in 2019 to 153 million in 2050, they remind.
Not being completely alone and enjoying the friendship of a pet could be one of the elements to consider. This is even more true given the latest data. To name a few: In 2021, the proportion of single-person households in the UK and US reached 29.4% and 28.5%, respectively. And a recent meta-analysis of 12 studies found that older adults who live alone are at high risk of developing dementia.