ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Humanities and Social Sciences
This article is part of the Research TopicDecoding and Bridging the Tripartite Components of One Health: Collaborative Strategies for Global Well-beingView all 6 articles
Pet Ownership, Pet-Related Characteristics, and Sleep Quality Among Older Adults in China: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of General Practice, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Graduate School, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- 2Department of General Practice, Affiliated Lianyungang Clinical College of Nantong University & The Second People's Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang, China
- 3Department of General Practice, Shaoxing People's Hospital, Shaoxing, China
- 4Department of Emergency, Ninth People’s Hospital Of Zhengzhou(Geriatric Hospital Of Zhengzhou), Zhengzhou, China
- 5Department of General Practice, First Affiliated Hospital of Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
- 6Department of General Practice, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Medical University, Xi’an, China
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This nationwide cross-sectional study investigated the association between pet ownership characteristics and sleep quality among 1,434 Chinese older adults (mean age 71.0±7.0 years) using the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS). After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, pet ownership was significantly associated with reduced insomnia risk (adjusted OR=0.75, 95% CI: 0.59-0.96). Critical variations were observed across pet-related characteristics: owners of healthy pets had significantly lower insomnia risk (OR=0.41, 95% CI: 0.23-0.70), while rabbit ownership increased risk (OR=1.94, 95% CI: 1.04-3.59). Dog ownership was protective (OR=0.63, 95% CI: 0.40-0.98), particularly with frequent walking, whereas ownership duration <1 year and interaction time >2 hours daily were risk factors. These findings demonstrate that the pet-sleep relationship in older adults is complex and contingent on specific ownership contexts, suggesting that targeted pet companionship may serve as a potential intervention for sleep health in aging populations.
Keywords: China, Cross-sectional study, older adults, pet ownership, sleep quality
Received: 10 Oct 2025; Accepted: 19 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tang, Zhu, Jin, Ren, Lu, Xu, Xie and Pan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jianjiang Pan
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