Pet Ownership Linked to Lower Risk of Dementia: Study

A new study shows that pet ownership could slow cognitive decline, especially in older adults who live alone.

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A new study shows that pet ownership could slow cognitive decline, especially in older adults who live alone.

The study, published on Dec. 26, 2023, in JAMA Network Open, shows that individuals who owned pets experienced slower rates of decline in verbal memory and verbal fluency.

The researchers’ findings came after studying data from nearly 8,000 participants 50 years of age and older. The data came from an English Longitudinal Study of Ageing conducted between June 2010 and July 2011 and between June 2018 and July 2019. The average age of the participants was 66.3 years, and more than half (56 percent) were women. Thirty-five percent of the participants owned pets, and 26.9 percent lived alone.

During the study, participants were asked to perform several tests assessing their verbal memory and fluency. One of the tests included reciting 10 unrelated words right after hearing them and then again one minute later. Another test included naming as many animals as they could in one minute.

After following the participants for nine years, the research team found that individuals who lived alone and didn’t own pets had faster rates of decline in both verbal cognition, or the ability to understand the meaning of words, and verbal fluency, the ability to produce words, than those with pets. They also found that pet owners who lived alone had better attention, reasoning, processing speed, and accuracy than non-pet owners. However, individuals who lived alone with a pet didn’t have an advantage in maintaining their cognitive abilities over those who lived with others.

About 30 Percent of Older Adults Live Alone

The new research sheds light on an issue that becomes more significant as more Americans live longer. By 2030, the entire baby boomer population, roughly 73 million Americans, will be 65 or older. More and more individuals are choosing to age at home rather than in nursing homes—the research team pointed out that in 2021, single-person households comprised 29.4 percent and 28.5 percent of all homes in the UK and the United States, respectively. A 2022 study in The Journals of Gerontology supports this, estimating that between 20 percent and 30 percent of European adults 60 years of age and older live alone, while approximately 28 percent of American adults 60 and older live alone.

Choosing to live at home, as the National Institute on Aging notes, can require careful planning. Not only do individuals need to make plans to ensure they have enough income and resources for care, but it’s also vital that individuals who choose to age at home have social engagements. Authors of the 2022 study on aging noted that having social networks often isn’t enough—living alone leads to loneliness. Loneliness, according to the authors of the JAMA Network Open study, can lead to dementia.

Currently, more than 55 million people globally have dementia, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In the United States, roughly 1 in 10 Americans suffer from dementia. It’s the seventh-leading cause of death around the world and a major reason individuals go on disability and lose their independence. According to the WHO, dementia costs global economies $1.3 trillion; roughly half of those costs can be attributed to individuals who left jobs to become informal caregivers to loved ones.

Aging individuals already have at least an 8.8 percent risk of developing dementia, the study authors noted, and living alone, as previous research indicates, exacerbates the risk. Pet ownership may mitigate that risk due to its ability to reduce loneliness.

Benefits of Owning a Pet

Pet ownership requires an individual to stay active, both physically and mentally. UK dog owners, for example, spend close to 250 minutes each week walking their dogs, according to a 2019 survey. Some evidence points out that physical activity can be as vital as social engagement in preventing dementia. In fact, research suggests that walking about 10,000 steps per day can cut the risk of dementia in half.

Other benefits of owning a pet as a senior include the following:

• Gives you a purpose in life.
• Helps you stay organized. Animals require a consistent schedule.
• Helps you form connections with new people.
• Provides new outlets for volunteering in the community.
• Potentially reduces blood pressure.
• Provides a companion to help relieve stress and anxiety.
• Helps you cope with pain more easily. An AARP study found that 70 percent of seniors said their pet helps them deal with physical or emotional pain.
• Promotes mindfulness.
• Potentially boosts heart health and promotes general wellness.