Twenty-five per cent of hospital admissions and 13 per cent of deaths in Kenya are due to cardiovascular diseasesDog ownership can be associated with longer life and better cardiovascular outcomes, especially for heart attack and stroke survivors who live alone, according to new studies. The studies and analyses were published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, a journal of the American Heart Association. “The findings build upon prior studies that dog ownership is associated with reductions in factors that contribute to cardiac risk and cardiovascular events,” said Glenn Levine, the chairperson of the writing group of the American Heart Association’s scientific statement on pet ownership. “Further, these two studies provide good, quality data indicating dog ownership is associated with reduced cardiac and all-cause death. While these non-randomised studies cannot ‘prove’ that adopting or owning a dog directly leads to reduced mortality, these robust findings are certainly at least suggestive of this.”According to the Health ministry, 25 per cent of hospital admissions and 13 per cent of deaths in Kenya are due to cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack, stroke and hypertension.

Source: Daily Nation October 22, 2019 14:26 UTC