Infants who live with dogs or cats (in the same household, especially dogs) are less prone to respiratory infections in their first year of life – claims a Finnish study.
The research project
397 Finnish children were examined for the research. Parents were asked to keep a diary of their child's health from 9 weeks of age, starting from a runny nose, through a cold, to ear infections. They also recorded when the baby had to take antibiotics. When the children reached one year of age, the parents had to complete a questionnaire. The researchers were also interested in information related to the parents, such as smoking, the occurrence of asthma and allergies, whether the child has siblings, whether the mother breastfed, the birth details (weight, length, birth season), and what values.
Of the 397 infants, 245 lived with a dog (62%) and 136 with a cat (34%). Based on the data, there were 31% fewer respiratory infections and 29% fewer cases requiring antibiotics among the 245 babies living with dogs. While respiratory infections, such as colds and symptoms like wheezing, are common in infants, the analysis showed that those babies who had early contact with the family dog or cat were healthier. They experienced a 31% lower likelihood of cough and symptoms such as sneezing, runny nose, and nasal congestion, and among babies living with dogs, there was a 44% lower rate of ear infections.
The researchers found that pets reduced the risk of developing various diseases. The effect was significantly greater with dogs than with cats. Cats did not have as strong an effect on the children’s health as direct contact with dogs – for example, doctors prescribed antibiotics only 4% less often for infants living with cats.
“The results support the theory that animal contact in the first year of life is important because at this age it triggers a better defense mechanism against infectious respiratory diseases” – wrote the author, Dr. Eija Bergroth, chief pediatrician at Kuopio University Hospital.
The question arises: Should every prospective parent get a dog then?
“Keeping pets can have several positive effects. They may provide some protection against developing infections, but I believe the development of the immune system is much more complex than that. Parents should not feel guilty for not having or for having a pet when their child is small. If they want a pet, they should get one.” – says Dr. Jennifer Appleyard, head of the Allergy and Immunology Center at St. John’s Hospital in Detroit.
Bergroth also agrees with this opinion, but suggests that it is unnecessary to avoid keeping animals out of fear of infections. If there is a history of allergy in several family members, the issue is more complicated – in such cases, decisions should be made depending on the situation. Furthermore, keeping a pet in the hope that it will cure the child's severe allergy or asthma may in fact have the opposite, unwanted effect.
“It is absolutely the wrong thing to bring a dog into the family because of an asthmatic child” – says Dr. Karen Demuth, associate professor of pediatrics at Emory University in Atlanta. She continues: “If the dog is present in the household from the child's birth, it can protect them from respiratory infections. But this must happen at a very early age.”
“We think that perhaps dogs bring more dirt into the house in some way, thereby strengthening the immune system, or maybe the animals themselves cause it” – said the study’s researcher, Dr. Eija Bergroth.
“According to our results, there is no reason to fear animal contact or avoid it” – says Dr. Eija. “While many prepare to create an extremely hygienic environment for their child, the results show this is not the best choice because the immune system does not consider this a challenge” – adds the doctor.
“These results are extremely novel,” said Dr. Roya Samuels, a pediatrician at the Cohen Children's Medical Center in New York, who was not involved in the research. “The research was based on a widely accepted theory, the ‘hygiene hypothesis,’ which states that children exposed to overly clean environments are more likely to develop allergies and asthma. The results suggest that the benefits provided by a live environment pose a much greater challenge to the immune system in relation to infectious diseases as well. Our research team associated the lower rates of allergy and asthma with dog and cat hair. But now this document says that this defense mechanism, which reduces infectious diseases, is triggered for another reason.” – said Samuels.
What is interesting, however, is that hypoallergenic dogs do not help much those suffering from allergies, the study claims.
The most interesting data, however, is that while children who lived with pets showed better health, the effect was particularly large when the mentioned pets did not spend much time inside the house.
The researchers offer the following possible explanation: those pets who spend more time outside bring in more dirt, thus babies are more likely to come into contact with it, which in turn helps their immune systems strengthen more quickly.
Bergroth hopes that, knowing the research results, many couples will be encouraged not to get rid of their beloved pets when they decide to have children.
Bergroth emphasized that the children involved in the research live in rural areas, so the study’s results cannot be applied to urban children, since pets in the city live in a different environment.
The study, published in the online edition of Pediatrics magazine, can be viewed here.
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