The dog protects child from asthma

If a child grows up in a family where the dog is, it reduces the risk of development of his asthma. To such conclusion researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

Swedish scientists came to a surprising conclusion that in those families where they keep dogs, children are less likely to suffer from asthma. With the greatest benefit in this plan have females and not males. Their findings are made after checking the health of all children born in Sweden between 2001 and 2004. A special group was allocated to children in families where there were dogs. Moreover, these animals were divided by gender for males and females.

It turned out that there was a correlation between the presence of dogs in the family and the probability of the diagnosis asthma or allergies. Meanwhile, the scientists, naturally, take into account other factors such as the presence of asthma in parents, number of brothers and sisters, the General conditions of life of the child and various aspects of health. In General, it was found that by the age of six, the incidence of asthma in children is 5.4%. But there are certain characteristics that significantly reduce the likelihood of the child in this group.

One of these characteristics is the presence in the house dogs and bitches. In this case, the probability of asthma was reduced by 16% compared to those who lived in the house where the dog. If the family lived two or more dogs, in this case, the risk of asthma was reduced by 21 %, compared to those children who have had only one dog. But how the sex of the animal affects the risk of asthma? The fact that it affects the amount of allergens. It is known that intact males produce more of certain airborne allergens than neutered and bitches. Moreover, some breeds in General are considered “hypoallergenic”, so they are more suitable for people who have allergies. However, scientific evidence of this has not yet been received. (READ MORE)