Owning a cat can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes by more than a third, researchers have found.
Scientists said that having a cat helped to relieve stress and anxiety, which is known to help protect against heart disease by lowering blood pressure and reducing the heart rate.
The 10-year study looked at 4,435 adults aged between 30 and 75, about half of whom owned a cat.
The findings, presented at a stroke conference in America, showed that 3.4 per cent of the cat owners died from a heart attack over 10 years. Among the group who had never owned a cat the rate was 5.8 per cent.
Cat owners still had a much reduced chance of developing strokes or heart attacks when researchers took account of other factors known to trigger heart disease, including high cholesterol levels, smoking and diabetes.
Prof Adnan Qureshi, from the Minnesota University, who carried out the study, said he was surprised by the strength of the effect that owning a cat appeared to have.
"The logical explanation may be that cat ownership relieves stress and anxiety and subsequently reduces the risk of heart disease."
He believes one reason could be that stroking the pet could cut the level of stress-related hormones in the blood. Reducing stress is known to help protect against heart disease by lowering blood pressure and reducing the heart rate.
But Prof Qureshi added that the type of person who owned a cat was usually already fairly stress-free and at low risk of heart disease.
研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，養(yǎng)貓能使患心臟病和中風(fēng)的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)降低三分之一以上。
科研人員稱，養(yǎng)貓有助于緩解壓力、減輕焦慮，而減輕壓力可以降低血壓和心律，因此有助于預(yù)防心臟病。
研究人員對(duì)4435名年齡在30歲至75歲之間的成年人進(jìn)行了為期十年的調(diào)查，其中有一半的人養(yǎng)貓。
研究結(jié)果顯示，在這十年中，僅有3.4%的養(yǎng)貓人士死于心臟病，而從未養(yǎng)過(guò)貓的人死于心臟病的比例為5.8%。該結(jié)果在美國(guó)召開(kāi)的一個(gè)中風(fēng)研討會(huì)上公布。
研究人員還綜合考慮了高膽固醇、吸煙和糖尿病等可能引發(fā)心臟病的其它一些因素，結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)，養(yǎng)貓人士患中風(fēng)或心臟病的幾率還是要小很多。
開(kāi)展該研究的明尼蘇達(dá)大學(xué)教授阿德南•庫(kù)勒什說(shuō)，他很驚訝養(yǎng)貓有這么大的好處。
“合理的解釋應(yīng)該是，養(yǎng)貓能夠緩解壓力和焦慮，從而降低患心臟病的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。”
他認(rèn)為其中一個(gè)原因是，愛(ài)撫小貓能夠降低血液中的應(yīng)激激素水平。而減輕壓力則能夠降低血壓和心率，從而有助于預(yù)防心臟病。
但庫(kù)勒什教授說(shuō)，喜歡養(yǎng)貓的人往往自身就沒(méi)什么壓力，患心臟病的幾率也較小。
