(Reuters) – the owners of pets that suffer from chronic diseases seem to have hearts most healthy people who live without a pet, you have hair, feathers or scales, according to a Japanese study.
In the findings published in the American Journal of Cardiology, the researchers studied nearly 200 people found that those who possessed a pet had a greater variability of pace heart than those who didn’t.
This means that their hearts respond better to the demands of body changes, as pump faster during stressful situations. Reduced variability is associated with one higher risk of dying from a heart problem.
“Among patients with coronary heart disease by pet owners show a survival one year older than those who are not owners,” wrote lead author, Naoko Aiba, of the Kitasato University, Kanagawa near Tokyo.
For the study, Aiba team continued 191 people with diabetes, high blood pressure or cholesterol high 24 hours using a heart monitor all the time. Their age range was around 60 years to almost 80.
The researchers also asked about the daily activities and if needed or not pet. Approximately four out of every ten people possessed an animal, but apart from that the two groups were similar, Aiba said.
. In what respects to pet owners, approximately 5 per cent of their heartbeat differed in 50 milliseconds in length. For those who did not have an animal, stood at 2.5 per cent, which means that the heart rate changed less.
Until now, no one knows what caused the difference between the two groups. It could be due in some way to the pet, or it could be that there are differences between those who choose to have a pet and who not.
“My assumption is that pets are a form of social support, and hence reduce stress and can meet some, but not all, of the needs of the company,” said Judith Siegel, Professor of the Faculty of public health of UCLA which did not participate in the study, in an e-mail to Reuters Health.
“I don’t think anyone has a good reference about why there are these discrepancies,” added.
Japanese researchers warned that they had only followed people a day and that they had to consider other factors in the future, as potential differences between the different types of pets.
Erika Friedmann, Professor of the school of nursing of the University of Maryland, said the study is a step more from something already known, the connection between having a pet and a person’s health.
“We are entering a person’s daily life, and that’s the exciting thing,” said Friedmann, who also participated in the study but has done similar research.
