A recent study has examined how living environments affect allergy development in both dogs and humans. While the connection between living conditions and allergies in humans is well-documented, the impact on dog allergies has been less explored. Dogs and humans share similar allergies, such as atopic dermatitis, and dogs provide an excellent model for studying this relationship due to their comparable living environments and lifestyles.
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The Finnish research team aimed to identify environmental risk factors for canine allergies, with their findings published in Nature Scientific Reports. Nearly 6,000 Finnish dog owners completed surveys detailing allergic histories for both their dogs and themselves, including allergy symptoms, outdoor activities, and diet. Using this data, researchers developed allergy scores to indicate severity and assessed the environmental contexts, including whether the dogs were raised in urban or rural settings.
To minimize breed-related confounding factors, the study excluded known allergy-prone breeds and created two subsets from common breeds featuring prominently in the collected data. The results revealed that about 70% of dogs were born in rural areas, with roughly 50% living in both rural and urban environments at the time of the survey. Dogs living in rural settings exhibited lower allergy scores, regardless of their birth environment, which may reflect the early age at which puppies are typically removed from their initial surroundings.
Several factors associated with rural living correlated with reduced allergy scores in dogs, including a lack of exposure to urban areas, outdoor activities, frequent interaction with farm animals, and larger family sizes (three or more children). This finding suggests a potential bidirectional protective effect of having both dogs and children, as prior research indicates that pet dogs can help mitigate allergy risks.
In analyzing the type of housing (farm, house, row house, flat) relative to allergy scores, urban living was linked to higher allergy scores. However, the relationship between house type and living environment complicates the interpretation of allergy severity.
Additionally, allergies were found to be more prevalent among dog owners living in urban settings. Notably, concurrent allergies in both dogs and their owners were observed, even when adjusting for breed differences.
The study indicates that rural living may generally lower allergy risks in dogs, while breed involvement remains significant at the individual level. These findings underscore the overarching impact of living environments and lifestyle choices on health in mammals, leading researchers to advocate for more green spaces in urban areas to enhance outdoor living and potentially reduce allergy risks.