Dogs lower asthma risk of children: study

A study published in JAMA Pediatrics revealed that dogs and farm animals can be good at lowering the risk of childhood asthma in kids. Researchers looked at more than 300,000 preschool kids and more than 275,000 school-age children. They found that having dogs or exposure to dogs before turning 1 year old was linked to a 13-percent lowered asthma risk in children while farm animal exposure lowered the risk for school-age children by 52 percent and 31 percent lower risk in preschool children.

Lead author Tove Fall, associate professor at Sweden's Uppsala University said that animals can be good for children as early exposure to germs, dirt and microbes can strengthen the immune system.

"It might be due to a single factor, or more likely, a combination of several factors related to a dog ownership lifestyle or dog-owners' attitudes, such as kids' exposure to household dirt and pet dust, time spent outdoors or being physically active," Fall said, as reported by Live Science. "As a parent in a dog-and-baby-household, it is nearly impossible to keep everything clean, and maybe this is a good thing for your baby's future health."

However, the researchers note that the study does not prove that dogs and farm animals can prevent asthma, it only shows a correlation. This also does not mean that parents give their dog-allergic child a puppy.

"My take-home message from this study is that parents at this point do not need to worry about keeping their dog or getting a puppy when expecting a baby for fear of asthmatic disease," Fall explained. "I do want to be clear that this recommendation is valid only for families without a child already having allergies. If they already have a furred-animal-allergic child, we do not recommend them to get a furred pet."

CBS News reports that there are limitations to the research. The study was only limited to Swedish children and the researchers observed the children only until they were seven years old so the effects of early animal exposure into teens and adulthood are unknown.

Fall and colleagues are hoping to conduct more research regarding the link between growing up with a dog and the decreased risk of asthma in children. Newsweek reports that Fall is hoping to find out if there is a specific strain of microbe that a child gets from a dog that enables them to become more immune against asthma. However, she notes that children with dogs probably spend more time outside playing with their furry friends which helps them become more active and less likely to have the condition.