Table 4.
Changes in Physical Function Variables With Aging According to Pet Ownership, Dog Ownership, and Cat Ownership, Adjusted for Age and Comorbidity (n = 637)
| Outcome | Interaction | With | Follow-up | Interaction | With | Follow-up | Interaction | With | Follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PO est | PO se | PO p | DO est | DO se | DO p | CO est | CO se | CO p | |
| 400-m Walk time (wln) | −0.006 | 0.001 | <.001 | −0.002 | 0.001 | .113 | −0.005 | 0.001 | <.001 |
| Physical performance | 0.015 | 0.003 | <.001 | 0.009 | 0.004 | .046 | 0.015 | 0.004 | <.001 |
| Usual speed | 0.003 | 0.002 | .032 | 0.003 | 0.002 | .244 | 0.002 | 0.002 | .346 |
| Rapid speed | 0.005 | 0.002 | .030 | 0.008 | 0.003 | .015 | 0.002 | 0.003 | .507 |
| Physical well-being (rln)a | −0.008 | 0.003 | .002 | −0.002 | 0.004 | .501 | −0.009 | 0.003 | .009 |
| Leisure activity | −21.594 | 25.549 | .398 | −36.534 | 36.648 | .319 | −3.633 | 35.162 | .918 |
| Leisure walking (ln) | 0.040 | 0.031 | .195 | 0.056 | 0.044 | .202 | −0.010 | 0.042 | .820 |
| Brisk exercise (ln) | −0.015 | 0.041 | .717 | −0.057 | 0.058 | .331 | 0.052 | 0.057 | .361 |
| Weekly exercise (ln) | 0.019 | 0.039 | .630 | −0.042 | 0.056 | .447 | 0.092 | 0.054 | .092 |
| Recommended exercise | −0.005 | 0.033 | .888 | −0.036 | 0.044 | .821 | −0.035 | 0.047 | .455 |
Notes: PO = pet ownership, nonownership is reference category; DO = dog ownership, nonownership is reference category; CO = cat ownership, nonownership is reference category; est = parameter estimate; se = standard error; 400-m Walk time = seconds to walk 400 meters; usual speed = usual gait speed (m/s); rapid speed = rapid gait speed (m/s); physical performance = physical performance battery score; physical well-being = SF-12 physical function component score; leisure activity = total leisure time physical activity (calories) per week; leisure walking = minutes of leisure walking per week; brisk exercise = minutes of “brisk” or exercise related walking per week; weekly exercise = minutes spent exercising per week; recommended exercise = dichotomous indicator for achieved recommended 150 min of moderate intensity exercise per week; (ln) = natural log transformed; (rln) = reflected and natural log transformed; (wln) = winsorized and natural log transformed. Bold is used to highlight significance p <.05.
aScore reflected, lower is better.