Research in Human-Animal Interaction
Medical Journal of Australia Vol 179 3 November 2003
Bruce Headey, Principal Research Fellow, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC
IN THE CURRENT ISSUE of the Journal (page 466), Parslow and Jorm reopen the debate about whether pets benefit human health. They give the results of a high quality Australian sample survey indicating that pet owners do not have lower blood pressure than non-owners, and, in this respect at least, are not at lower risk of heart disease. Their results run counter to an earlier Australian study,2 based on a large volunteer sample, in which pet owners were found to have lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Where are we up to in this debate - are we back to square one? The case I will present here is that we can be fairly confident that pets do confer health benefits, but we do not know exactly how. MORE