title: Prenatal dog-keeping practices vary by race: speculations on implications for disparities in childhood health and disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is consistent evidence demonstrating that pet-keeping, particularly of dogs, is beneficial to human health. We explored relationships between maternal race and prenatal dog-keeping, accounting for measures of socioeconomic status that could affect the choice of owning a pet, in a demographically diverse, unselected birth cohort.
  
  
  METHODS
  Self-reported data on mothers' race, socioeconomic characteristics and dog-keeping practices were obtained during prenatal interviews and analyzed cross-sectionally. Robust methods of covariate balancing via propensity score analysis were utilized to examine if race (Black vs White), independent of other participant traits, influenced prenatal dog-keeping.
  
  
  METHODS
  A birth cohort study conducted in a health care system in metropolitan Detroit, Michigan between September 2003 and November 2007.
  
  
  METHODS
  1065 pregnant women (n=775 or 72.8% Black), between ages 21 and 45, receiving prenatal care.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participant's self-report of race/ethnicity and prenatal dog-keeping, which was defined as her owning or caring for > or =1 dog for more than 1 week at her home since learning of her pregnancy, regardless of whether the dog was kept inside or outside of her home.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 294 women (27.6%) reported prenatal dog-keeping. Prenatal dog-keeping was significantly lower among Black women as compared to White women (20.9% vs 45.5%, P<.001), and remained significantly different even after propensity score analysis was applied.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings suggest that there are persistent racial differences in dog-keeping not fully explained by measures of socioeconomic status. Racial differences in prenatal dog-keeping may contribute to childhood health disparities.
authors.forename: Jerel M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ezell
authors.forename: Andrea E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Cassidy-Bushrow
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Havstad
authors.forename: Christine L M
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Joseph
authors.forename: Ganesa
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wegienka
authors.forename: Kyra
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Dennis R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Ownby
authors.forename: Christine Cole
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma / Q000208:ethnology; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000208:ethnology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008824:Michigan; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers; D057805:Pets; D011247:Pregnancy; D057216:Propensity Score; D012923:Social Class; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult