ArticleScientific reports2023
Pet ownership and maintenance of cognitive function in community-residing older adults: evidence from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA).
Article in Scientific reports, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Investigating the Potential Protective Effect of Dog Ownership on Incident Disabling Dementia and Its Cost-Effectiveness.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- An exploratory study of patient hospitalization patterns and behavioral risk factors using mobile phone location data.PLOS digital health · 2026Article
- When Gig Work Gets Ruff: The Affective Benefits of Daily Human-Animal Interactions for Mental Health.International journal of psychology : Journal international de psychologie · 2026Article
- Dog Companionship and Loneliness in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Multicentre, Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of geriatric psychiatry · 2026Article
- Oral health conditions and domain-specific cognitive decline in older adults: evidence from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging 2005-2024.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2026Article
- Pet Ownership, Depression, Anxiety, Well-Being, and Cognitive Functioning in Older Adults: Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Perceived stress levels of pet and non-pet owners in Cebu, Philippines.Journal of advanced veterinary and animal research · 2026Article
- Article
- Association of new dog ownership with physical activity and social contact: the retrospective study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Pet Ownership, Pet Attachment, and Longitudinal Changes in Psychological Health-Evidence from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Longitudinal relationships between pet ownership and cognitive functioning in later adulthood across pet types and individuals' ages.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Association of attachment with level of physical activity among dog owners: A cross-sectional study.PloS one · 2024Article
- A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial to Examine the Impact of a Therapy Dog Intervention on Loneliness in Hospitalized Older Adults.Innovation in aging · 2024Article
- Pet Ownership, Living Alone, and Cognitive Decline Among Adults 50 Years and Older.JAMA network open · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Pet ownership has been associated with reduced deterioration in physical health as older adults age; little research focused on deterioration in cognitive function. We examine the relationship of pet, dog, cat ownership, and dog walking to changes in cognitive function among 637 generally healthy community-dwelling older adults (185 pet owners) aged 50-100 years (M = 68.3, SD = 9.6) within the BLSA. Cognitive assessments every 1-4 years over 1-13 years (M = 7.5, SD = 3.6) include the California Verbal Learning (Immediate, Short, Long Recall); Benton Visual Retention; Trail-Making (Trails A, B, B-A); Digit Span; Boston Naming (Naming); and Digit Symbol Substitution (Digit Symbol) Tests. In linear mixed models, deterioration in cognitive function with age was slower for pet owners than non-owners (Immediate, Short, Long Recall; Trails A,B,B-A; Naming; Digit Symbol); dog owners than non-owners (Immediate, Short Recall; Trails A,B; Naming; Digit Symbol); and cat owners than non-owners (Immediate, Short, Long Recall; Naming), controlling for age and comorbidities. Among dog owners (N = 73) walkers experienced slower deterioration than non-walkers (Trails B, B-A; Short Recall). All ps ≤ 0.05. We provide important longitudinal evidence that pet ownership and dog walking contribute to maintaining cognitive function with aging and the need to support pet ownership and dog walking in design of senior communities and services.
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