Pets prove better than drug for high blood pressure

High blood pressure has become one of the most common health problems in the country today, a byproduct of high-stress and poor diet. To correct the problem, many medical doctors have turned to drugs, such as ACE inhibitors.

But one recent study found that caring for a dog or cat can work just as well.

To reach their conclusion, researchers from the University at Buffalo studied responses to stress in a group of hypertensive New York City stockbrokers. Findings were presented at the Nov. 7, 1999, American Heart Association annual meeting.

Karen Allen, Ph.D., UB research assistant professor of medicine, assessed the effect of social support on heart rate, blood pressure and renin reactivity in response to mental stress in a group of 48 stockbrokers, all of whom were being treated with lisinopril, an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor used to treat hypertension.

She found that in the 24 participants who, as part of their treatment plan, were given a dog or cat, cardiovascular measures remained significantly more stable during stressful situations than in the non-pet-owner group, who served as controls.

"When we told the group that didn't have pets about the findings, many went out and got them," Allen said. "Social support is what I'm interested in," she added. "This study shows that if you have high blood pressure, a pet is very good for you when you're under stress, and pet ownership is especially good for you if you have a limited support system."

All of the study participants had lived alone for more than five years.

Allen has shown in previous studies that a loved pet can exert a calming influence on blood pressure and heart rate when the owner is performing standard tasks designed to induce mental and physical stress.

Her research has also demonstrated that pet ownership can substitute for human companionship and provide physiological benefits similar to that of friends for older women who live alone, often in isolation.

Those earlier studies compared existing pet owners with non-pet owners. This is the first study to assess hypertensive subjects before and after acquiring a pet, and to assign participants randomly to pet ownership or to a control group.

The study group was composed of 24 male and 24 female stockbrokers in New York City who had pre-treatment blood-pressure readings higher than 140/90 hg/ml. All were non-smoking college graduates who had no other medical conditions, lived alone and had not owned a pet in the previous five years. All participants had to be willing to acquire their choice of a dog or cat if assigned to the control group.