ArticlePloS one2018
Pet-keeping in early life reduces the risk of allergy in a dose-dependent fashion.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 85 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cat and dog ownership during/after the first year of life and risk for sensitization and reported allergy symptoms at age 13.Immunity, inflammation and disease · 2019Trial
- Microbial transmission and ecology of human and environmental microbial communities in childcare centers.Research square · 2026Article
- Peak expiratory flow rate and it's determinants in adolescents from South India.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2025Article
- Clinical validation of controlled exposure to cat dander in the Specialized Particulate Control Environmental Exposure Unit (SPaC-EEU).Allergy, asthma, and clinical immunology : official journal of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology · 2025Article
- Harnessing the Farm Effect: Microbial Products for the Treatment and Prevention of Asthma Throughout Life.Immunological reviews · 2025Review
- Detection of the methicillin-resistantOpen veterinary journal · 2024Article
- Respiratory Status in Children and Exposure to Animal Allergens-The Problem of Reverse Causality in Cross-Sectional Studies.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Treatment of Allergies to Fur Animals.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Association of longitudinal pet ownership with wheezing in 3-year-old children using the distributed lag model: the Japan Environment and Children's Study.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2024Article
- Correlation ofAsia Pacific allergy · 2024Article
- Comprehensive profile of the companion animal gut microbiome integrating reference-based and reference-free methods.The ISME journal · 2024Article
- Gut microbiota markers in early childhood are linked to farm living, pets in household and allergy.PloS one · 2024Article
- Animal exposure, sensitization, and allergic symptoms in first-year veterinary medicine students.Allergologie select · 2024Article
- The potential of live biotherapeutic products in allergic disease: current findings and future directions.Frontiers in microbiomes · 2024Review
- Natural history of eosinophil‑derived neurotoxin levels and the onset of allergic airway disease in preschool children.Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2023Article
- The Primary Prevention of Atopy: Does Early Exposure to Cats and Dogs Prevent the Development of Allergy and Asthma in Children? A Comprehensive Analysis of the Literature.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- The impact of prenatal dog keeping on infant gut microbiota development.Clinical and experimental allergy : journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology · 2023Article
- Recognizing Zooeyia to Promote Companion Animal Welfare in Urban Bangladesh.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- The old friends hypothesis: evolution, immunoregulation and essential microbial inputs.Frontiers in allergy · 2023Review
- Microbial associations and transfers across the One Health Triad effects on human and animal adiposity and temperament: a protocol for an observational pilot study.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesSeveral studies have indicated that early pet keeping could protect the infant from later allergy development. Here, we investigate if there is a dose-dependent association between cat- and dog-keeping during the first year of life and subsequent allergy development.
methodsTwo cohorts were investigated: a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study of 7- to 8-year-old children (N = 1029) from Mölndal and Kiruna, and a birth-cohort of children from the Västra Götaland county clinically evaluated for asthma and allergy by paediatricians up to the age of 8-9 years (N = 249). The cross-sectional study asked validated questions on asthma and allergy that had been used in two previous studies of children from the same areas. In the birth-cohort study, a diagnosis of asthma and allergy was based on predefined clinical criteria, and laboratory evaluation included blood eosinophils, skin-prick tests and specific immunoglobulin E analyses. Information on pets during first year of life was collected retrospectively in the Cross-Sectional Cohort and prospectively in the Birth Cohort.
resultsA dose-response association was seen, with less allergic manifestations (any of asthma, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, or eczema) with increasing number of household cats and dogs during the first year of life. In the Cross-Sectional Cohort, allergy ever decreased from 49% in those with no pets to zero in those with five or more pets (P-value for trend 0.038), and from 32% to zero for allergy last year (P-value for trend 0.006). The same pattern was seen in Birth Cohort. Sensitization to animals, as well as pollens, also decreased with increasing number of animals in the household.
conclusionThe prevalence of allergic disease in children aged 7-9 years is reduced in a dose-dependent fashion with the number of household pets living with the child during their first year of life, suggesting a "mini-farm" effect, whereby cats and dogs protect against allergy development.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.