Pet’s influence on humans’ daily physical activity and mental health: a meta-analysis

Frontiers in Public Health

Public Health

Maria A. Pires¹  Luís Cardoso¹  Maria P. Mota²  António Cortinhas²  Jorge P. Soares²  Luís Silva²  Catarina F. Martins² 

[1] Animal and Veterinary Research Centre (CECAV), Department of Veterinary Sciences, School of Agrarian and Veterinary Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Vila Real, Portugal;Associate Laboratory for Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Vila Real, Portugal;Research Centre in Sports Sciences, Health and Human Development (CIDESD), Department of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, School of Life and Environmental Sciences (ECVA), University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Vila Real, Portugal;

关键词: active lifestyle;    health;    pet ownership;    physical activity;    quality of life;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpubh.2023.1196199

 received in 2023-03-29, accepted in 2023-04-28,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

AbstractThe benefits of the human-animal bond on owners’ health and quality of life have been the focus of research in recent decades. However, the results are still inconsistent. Thus, this study aims to investigate whether the presence of a pet, compared to a control group, influences daily physical activity levels and mental health using a meta-analytic method.MethodsThe PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched for all research articles that included pets as an object of study and related mental health and quality of life variables between pet owners and non-owners until April 2022. The PRISMA 2020 checklist was used, and the Downs and Back checklist was used to assess the methodological quality of the studies. Standardized mean differences and 95% confidence intervals were used to assess the difference between a group of pet owners and non-pet owners.ResultsAn initial search located 11,389 studies, but only 49 studies fulfilled all requirements. Our results indicate that pets have a moderately significant positive effect on the physical activity of owners compared to non-pet owners. Among the moderating variables, the frequency of physical activity showed a highly significant effect, indicating that owners had a higher frequency of physical activity than non-owners. Moreover, our results indicate a significant impact but with a low effect size of pets on owners’ mental health when compared to non-pet owners.ConclusionPet ownership does not seem to influence owners’ mental health, but it does influence their physical activity. Specifically, owners show a higher frequency of physical activity than non-owners.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Martins, Soares, Cortinhas, Silva, Cardoso, Pires and Mota.