Professor emerita has manuscript accepted for publication in Scientific Reports.
Erika Friedmann, PhD, professor emerita and former associate dean for research, has had a manuscript, "Pet Ownership and Maintenance of Cognitive Function in Community-Residing Older Adults: Evidence from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA)," accepted for publication in Scientific Reports.
The research was funded by the Waltham Petcare Science Institute, which aims to improve the lives of pets by understanding their needs through science, including understanding the power of human-animal interaction. Friedmann is internationally recognized for her research in this area.
Friedmann is joined on the manuscript by several co-authors, including Barbara Resnick, PhD '96, RN, CRNP, FAAN, FAANP, Distinguished University Professor; Sonya Ziporkin Gershowitz Chair in Gerontology; and associate dean for research. Others are from the Center for Human Animal Interaction, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health.
Pet ownership has been associated with reduced deterioration in physical health as older adults age; little research focused on deterioration in cognitive function. The manuscript authors examined the relationship of pet, dog, cat ownership, and dog walking to changes in cognitive function among 637 generally healthy community-dwelling older adults aged 50-100 years within the BLSA. They provide important longitudinal evidence that pet ownership and dog walking contribute to maintaining cognitive function with aging and for the need to support pet ownership and dog walking in design of senior communities and services.