Observational studyPloS one2025
Association between pet ownership and physical function at discharge in hospitalized older adults: A retrospective observational study.
Observational study in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesHospitalization can lead to a loss of physical function among older adults. While pet ownership has been reported to have beneficial effects on physical function, its impact on hospitalized patients remains unclear. We examined the association between pet ownership upon admission and physical function during hospitalization.
methodsThis single-center, retrospective, observational study was conducted between April 2013 and April 2023. Patients aged ≥65 years who were hospitalized for the first time due to pneumonia at our facility were included. Cases were identified through medical record searches using the keywords "pet", "dog", "cat", "ownership", and "keeping". Patients with unclear pet ownership status in the medical records were excluded from the analysis. Patients were classified into two groups: Pet Owners (PO) and Non-Pet Owners (NPO) upon admission. The Barthel index (BI) gain (the difference between admission and discharge BI scores) and BI efficiency (BI gain divided by hospital stay) were compared. Logistic regression was performed for patients with a BI gain >0 and discharge BI scores >85, indicating independence without functional decline, after adjusting for covariates.
resultsA total of 248 patients were initially screened, we finally included 172 patients (69.4%) in the PO group and 46 patients (18.5%) in the NPO group. The median BI gain was 10 (0-30) and 2.5 (0.0-26.3) in the PO and NPO groups (p = 0.24), respectively. The median BI efficiency was 0.48 (0.00-1.87) and 0.16 (0.00-1.27) in the PO and NPO groups (p = 0.062), respectively. Current pet ownership was not associated with independence without functional decline, with an adjusted odds ratio of 0.68 (95% confidence interval, 0.15-3.94; p = 0.63).
conclusionsThis study found no association between current pet ownership and the maintenance of physical function in hospitalized older adults.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.