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Volume 100, Issue 9 (September 2010)
Christopher G. Owen, Claire M. Nightingale, Alicja R. Rudnicka, Ulf Ekelund, Alison M. McMinn, Esther M. F. van Sluijs, Simon J. Griffin, Derek G. Cook, and Peter H. Whincup Family Dog Ownership and Levels of Physical Activity in Childhood: Findings From the Child Heart and Health Study in England. American Journal of Public Health: September 2010, Vol. 100, No. 9, pp. 1669-1671.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2009.188193

Accepted on: Mar 10, 2010

Family Dog Ownership and Levels of Physical Activity in Childhood: Findings From the Child Heart and Health Study in England

Christopher G. Owen, PhD, Claire M. Nightingale, MSc, Alicja R. Rudnicka, PhD, Ulf Ekelund, PhD, Alison M. McMinn, PhD, Esther M. F. van Sluijs, PhD, Simon J. Griffin, FRCGP, Derek G. Cook, PhD, and Peter H. Whincup, FRCP

Christopher G. Owen, Claire M. Nightingale, Alicja R. Rudnicka, Derek G. Cook, and Peter H. Whincup are with the Division of Community Health Sciences, St George's, University of London, London, UK. Ulf Ekelund, Alison M. McMinn, Esther M. F. van Sluijs, and Simon J. Griffin are with MRC Epidemiology Unit, Institute of Metabolic Science, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK.

Correspondence should be sent to Christopher G. Owen, PhD, Division of Community Health Sciences, St George's, University of London. London, SW17 0RE, UK (e-mail: ). Reprints can be ordered at http://www.ajph.org by clicking on the “Reprints/Eprints” link.

Peer Reviewed

Contributors

All authors contributed substantially to the origination and design of this brief. C. G. Owen drafted the brief and led the physical activity assessment with support from U. Ekelund, D. G. Cook, and P. H. Whincup. C. M. Nightingale and A. R. Rudnicka carried out the statistical analyses. P. H. Whincup conceptualized, raised funding for, and directed the Child Heart and Health Study in England with help from D. G. Cook. All authors had access to the data and approved the final version.



ABSTRACT

Dog ownership is associated with higher physical activity levels in adults; whether this association occurs in children is unknown. We used accelerometry to examine physical activity levels in 2065 children aged 9 to 10 years. Children from dog-owning families spent more time in light or moderate to vigorous physical activity and recorded higher levels of activity counts per minute (25; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 6, 44) and steps per day (357; 95% CI = 14, 701) than did children without dogs.