title: Family dog ownership and levels of physical activity in childhood: findings from the Child Heart and Health Study in England.
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.
authors.affiliation: Division of Community Health Sciences, St George's, University of London. London, SW17 0RE, UK. cowen@sgul.ac.uk
authors.forename: Christopher G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Owen
authors.forename: Claire M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Nightingale
authors.forename: Alicja R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Rudnicka
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ekelund
authors.forename: Alison M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: McMinn
authors.forename: Esther M F
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: van Sluijs
authors.forename: Simon J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Griffin
authors.forename: Derek G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: Peter H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Whincup
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic; D002648:Child; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004285:Dogs; D004739:England; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation; D009043:Motor Activity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires