Dog ownership, walking behavior, and maintained mobility in late life.
OBJECTIVES: To examine dog walking among dog owners and the relationship between walking behavior of dog owners and non-dog owners and maintained gait speed over 3 years. DESIGN: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of a prospective cohort study. SETTING: Memphis, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh, Pen...
| Published in: | Journal of the American Geriatrics Society Vol. 54; no. 9; pp. 1419 - 1425 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
| Format: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
Sep2006
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=106364767&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 106364767 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 00028614 20Q jtl: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society issn: 00028614 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Sep2006 vid: 54 iid: 9 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell place: Malden, Massachusetts artinfo: ui: 106364767 106364767 2009293415 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2006.00856.x NLM16970652 106364767 ppf: 1419 ppct: 6 formats: tig: atl: Dog ownership, walking behavior, and maintained mobility in late life. aug: au: Thorpe RJ Jr. Simonsick EM Brach JS Ayonayon H Satterfield S Harris TB Garcia M Kritchevsky SB affil: Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD sug: subj: Dogs Health Behavior In Old Age Pets Physical Mobility In Old Age Walking In Old Age Aged Aged, 80 and Over Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale Chi Square Test Community Living In Old Age Cross Sectional Studies Female Funding Source Interviews Logistic Regression Male Nonexperimental Studies P-Value Pennsylvania Prospective Studies Psychological Tests Random Sample Scales T-Tests Tennessee Human Aged: 65+ years Aged, 80 & over Female Male ab: OBJECTIVES: To examine dog walking among dog owners and the relationship between walking behavior of dog owners and non-dog owners and maintained gait speed over 3 years. DESIGN: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of a prospective cohort study. SETTING: Memphis, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. PARTICIPANTS: Two thousand five hundred thirty-three community-dwelling adults aged 71 to 82 at 36 months of the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study. MEASUREMENTS: Dog ownership, reported walking behavior, change in walking behavior, and usual and rapid gait speed over 3 years. RESULTS: Of 394 dog owners, only 36% walked their dogs at least three times per week. Cross-sectionally, dog walkers were more likely to achieve 150 minutes of walking per week and had faster usual and rapid walking speeds (1.20 vs 1.14 m/s and 1.62 vs 1.52 m/s, respectively; P < .01 for both) than non-dog owners who did not walk at least three times per week and similar speeds as non-dog owners who walked at least 150 minutes per week (P > .50). Three years later, subjects who had been dog walkers at baseline were approximately twice as likely as any other group to achieve recommended walking levels, independent of covariates. Dog walkers experienced similar declines in usual and rapid walking speed as non-dog owners who walked at least three times per week but maintained their initial mobility advantage. CONCLUSION: Although dog ownership appears to facilitate walking behavior, only a minority of older dog owners walk their dogs. The mobility advantage of dog ownership was seen only in dog walkers and was similar to that associated with any walking. Given suboptimal walking activity in older adults, examining the degree to which dog ownership promotes walking activity in persons who do little walking on their own appears worth pursuing. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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