Owning a cat can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes by more than a third, researchers have found.
 
    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. 

    研究人員發現，養貓能使患心臟病和中風的風險降低三分之一以上。

    科研人員稱，養貓有助于緩解壓力、減輕焦慮，而減輕壓力可以降低血壓和心律，因此有助于預防心臟病。

    研究人員對4435名年齡在30歲至75歲之間的成年人進行了為期十年的調查，其中有一半的人養貓。

    研究結果顯示，在這十年中，僅有3.4%的養貓人士死于心臟病，而從未養過貓的人死于心臟病的比例為5.8%。該結果在美國召開的一個中風研討會上公布。

    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心臟病的其它一些因素，結果發現，養貓人士患中風或心臟病的幾率還是要小很多。

    開展該研究的明尼蘇達大學教授阿德南•庫勒什說，他很驚訝養貓有這么大的好處。

    “合理的解釋應該是，養貓能夠緩解壓力和焦慮，從而降低患心臟病的風險。”

    他認為其中一個原因是，愛撫小貓能夠降低血液中的應激激素水平。而減輕壓力則能夠降低血壓和心率，從而有助于預防心臟病。

    但庫勒什教授說，喜歡養貓的人往往自身就沒什么壓力，患心臟病的幾率也較小。