Dogs protect against asthma

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A dog lives in every second household in Germany. The four-legged friends are not only good for the mind - they also support physical health. Among other things, children who grow up with dogs are less likely to develop asthma. Contact with four-legged friends has a protective effect, especially in the first year of life.

Asthma and other allergic diseases have been on the rise for decades. The so-called hygiene hypothesis provides an explanation for this. As a result, the immune system has too little to do in a less contaminated environment. Instead of attacking harmful germs, it is basically taking action against harmless substances - the result is an allergic reaction such as hay fever or allergic asthma.

Better trained immune system

This hypothesis fits the observation that children who grow up on farms are less likely to develop allergies and asthma than city children. Contact with animals or the various microorganisms that it brings with it trains the immune system and at the same time makes it less likely to overreact, so the idea.

“We wanted to see whether this effect also applies to children who grow up with dogs,” says Tove Fall from Uppsala University. To this end, the scientist and his colleagues evaluated the data from more than one million children who were born in Sweden between 2001 and 2010. The scientists tracked their health up to the age of six.

Dog in the house saves the pulmonologist

Of the 14 percent of children who grew up with a dog in their first year of life, 13 percent had developed less asthma than the average by the age of six. Children who grew up on a farm were even better protected: fewer than half as many of them developed asthma as the average.

In Germany too, asthma is common in children - in fact, it is the most common chronic disease in childhood. According to the lung information service, around ten percent of all children under the age of 15 suffer from bronchial asthma.

Early detection and consistent treatment are important, as otherwise the lungs can be permanently damaged. Asthma can also affect the general development of children. (cf)

Source: Tove Fall et al .: Early Exposure to Dogs and Farm Animals and the Risk of Childhood Asthma Online Only, JAMA Pediatr. 2015; 169: e153219. doi: 10.1001 / jamapediatrics.2015.3219

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