Social determinants of health and disease in companion dogs
A cohort study from the Dog Aging Project
In this study, researchers explored how the social environment affects the health and well-being of companion dogs.
The team closely looked at data from over 21,000 dogs in the Dog Aging Project and linked different components of the dog’s environment to their health. Dogs in lower-income houses or areas with more residential turnover had poorer health and less physical mobility, according to a blog post on the Dog Aging Project's website.
While these adverse environmental factors were linked to poorer health, things that capture positive social environments, like social support (e.g., living with other dogs), were associated with better health outcomes for the dogs, even after taking into account their age and weight.
Not all environmental components had the same impact: social support was 5x more predictive of dog health compared to financial factors. This suggests that having companionship and interaction with other dogs can greatly contribute to a dog’s overall well-being.
Taking advantage of the broad age range of dogs in the Dog Aging Project Pack, researchers also looked at how environmental effects on health changed with dog age. For instance, the authors found a stronger relationship between the owner’s age and the dog’s health in younger dogs compared to older ones.
This highlights the importance of considering both the age of the dog and the owner’s age when studying the impact of the social environment on dog health. Overall, the findings suggest that there are behavioral or environmental factors that can be modified to promote healthy aging in dogs and potentially in other species as well.
Read more in the blog post on the project's website.
McCoy, B. M., Brassington, L., Jin, K., Dolby, G. A., Shrager, S., Collins, D., Dunbar, M., Ruple, A., & Snyder-Mackler, N. (2023). "Social determinants of health and disease in companion dogs: A cohort study from the Dog Aging Project. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health." DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoad011
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