The work conducted by scientists from China demonstrated that having pets can slow the decline of cognitive functions in lonely elderly people. These findings were published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
Researchers note that older adults in modern society are experiencing increasingly pronounced declines in cognitive abilities. According to official data, by 2050, the number of people with dementia worldwide will reach approximately 153 million (up from 57 million in 2019). Previous studies have shown that lonely elderly individuals are at the highest risk of developing dementia, with their share in the US and UK being about 8.9%.
Scientists from Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou, China) investigated the impact of pets on the decline of cognitive functions in older adults. The study analyzed data from 7,945 participants (4,446 women and 3,499 men) from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). The average age of participants was about 66.3 years.
Researchers concluded that having a pet in the home of a lonely elderly person slows the deterioration of their speech functions and verbal memory ability (the ability to remember, retain, and reproduce verbal information).
Interestingly, this effect was observed only in people living alone. Among elderly pet owners living with others, no such connection was established.
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