2017-11-29
◎魏國金
The benefits that come with owning a dog are clear － physical activity, support, companionship － but owning a dog could literally be saving your life. Dog ownership is associated with a reduced risk for cardiovascular disease and death, finds a new Swedish study published in the journal Scientific Reports.
伴隨養狗而來的好處很明顯：身體活動、支持、陪伴等，但養狗可能確實能救你的命。養狗與降低心血管疾病及死亡風險有關，一份刊登於期刊「科學報告」的瑞典研究發現。
For people living alone, owning a dog can decrease their risk of death by 33% and their risk of cardiovascular related death by 36%, when compared to single individuals without a pet, according to the study. Chances of a heart attack were also found to be 11% lower.
相較於單身沒養寵物的人，獨居者養一條狗可降低其死亡風險33％，心血管相關的死亡風險則可降低36％，這項研究顯示。心臟病發的機率也發現可降低11％。
Multi-person household owners also saw benefits, though to a lesser extent. Risk of death among these dog owners fell by 11% and their chances of cardiovascular death were 15% lower.
多人家庭的飼主也看得到好處，儘管程度較小。這些狗飼主的死亡風險下降11％，心血管死亡率則降低15％。
“A very interesting finding in our study was that dog ownership was especially prominent as a protective factor in persons living alone, which is a group reported previously to be at higher risk of cardiovascular disease and death than those living in a multi-person household,” said Mwenya Mubanga, an author on the study and PhD student at Uppsala University.
「在我們的研究中，一個非常有趣的發現就是，養狗作為獨居者的保護因子尤其顯著，之前的報告顯示這群人要比生活在多人家庭者有更高的心血管疾病與死亡風險，」該研究作者之一、烏普撒拉大學博士班研究生穆邦加說。
The study looked at over 3.4 million Swedish individuals between the ages of 40 and 80 sampled from a national database and the Swedish Twin Register over a 12-year study period.
這份研究從一個全國性資料庫及瑞典雙胞胎登記處，抽樣340萬名年齡介於40歲到80歲之間的瑞典人進行檢視，時間長達12年。
新聞辭典
companionship：伴侶關係、友誼。例句：I enjoy the companionship of books. （我樂於以書為伴。）
ownership：所有權、物主身分。例如：land ownership（土地所有權）
prominent：顯著的、突出的。例句：Her nose is too prominent.（她的鼻子太高了。）
研究顯示，養狗有助於降低心血管疾病及死亡風險。（法新社）
