Owning a Dog May Lower <br />Risk of Early Death.<br />A systematic review in ‘Circulation,’ a journal of the American Heart Association, found that dog ownership is "protective against dying of any cause.".<br />Dog ownership was associated <br />with a 24% reduction in all <br />cause mortality. , Mount Sinai endocrinologist Dr. Caroline Kramer.<br />The review spanned over 70 years <br />of research and included over almost <br />4 million people from several major countries.<br />A separate study also found that people <br />who owned dogs had better health <br />outcomes after major cardiovascular <br />events like heart attacks or stroke.<br />Though both studies are observational and <br />would require a clinical trial to be proven, <br />the AHA marks the findings as significant.<br />While these non-randomized studies cannot 'prove' that adopting or owning a dog directly leads to reduced mortality, these robust findings are certainly at least suggestive of this. , Dr. Glenn Levine, via AHA's scientific <br />statement on pet ownership
