Baseline characteristics of Swedish adults aged 45–80 years without cardiovascular disease according to dog ownership status (national cohort, n=2 026 865) and (TwinGene, n=10 110, responses derived from Screening Across the Lifespan Twin study (1998–2002))
| National Cohort | TwinGene | |||||||||
| All n=2 026 865 (100%) | Non-dog owners n=1 731 183 (85.4%) | Dog owners** n=2 95 682 (14.6%) | Mixed pedigree† n=32 003 (1.6%) | ‘Active dog breeds’†,*** n=65 686 (3.2%) | All n=10 110 (100%) | Non-dog owners n=9626 (95%) | Dog owners** n=484 (5%) | Mixed pedigree† n=141 (1.3%) | ‘Active dog breeds’†,*** n=143 (1.4%) | |
| Age: mean±SD* | 52.8 (8.7) | 53.3 (8.9) | 49.9 (7.3) | 49.2 (7.1) | 50.0 (7.3) | 63.6 (7.1) | 63.7 (7.1) | 62.0 (6.7) | 61.9 (6.3) | 62.7 (6.7) |
| Male | 981 094 (48.4) | 839 321 (48.5) | 141 773 (47.9) | 11 841 (37.0) | 27 961 (42.6) | 4189 (41.4) | 3986 (41.4) | 203 (41.9) | 60 (42.6) | 64 (44.8) |
| Marital status | ||||||||||
| Married/cohabiting | 1 276 074 (63.0) | 1 044 915 (60.4) | 231 159 (78.2) | 18 991 (59.3) | 46 638 (71.0) | 8039 (79.5) | 7648 (79.5) | 391 (80.8) | 110 (78.0) | 112 (78.3) |
| Never married | 287 589 (14.2) | 265 895 (15.4) | 21 694 (7.3) | 4265 (13.3) | 6377 (9.7) | 771 (7.6) | 734 (7.6) | 37 (7.6) | 13 (9.2) | 14 (9.8) |
| Divorced | 352 209 (17.4) | 316 728 (18.3) | 35 481 (12.0) | 7522 (23.5) | 10 325 (15.7) | 855 (8.5) | 824 (8.6) | 31 (6.4) | 11 (7.8) | 8 (5.6) |
| Widowed | 110 993 (5.5) | 103 645 (6.0) | 7348 (2.5) | 1225 (3.8) | 2346 (3.6) | 445 (4.4) | 420 (4.4) | 25 (5.2) | 7 (5.0) | 9 (6.3) |
| Type of family | ||||||||||
| Children at home | 658 355 (32.4) | 521 224 (30.0) | 137 131 (46.3) | 14 079 (44.0) | 28 785 (43.8) | 1500 (14.8) | 1397 (14.5) | 103 (21.3) | 31 (22.0) | 27 (18.9) |
| No children at home | 1 369 617 (67.6) | 1 210 920 (69.9) | 158 697 (53.7) | 17 924 (56.0) | 36 901 (56.2) | 8610 (85.2) | 8229 (85.5) | 381 (78.7) | 110 (78.0) | 116 (81.1) |
| Education | ||||||||||
| Compulsory | 541 662 (26.7) | 473 952 (27.4) | 67 710 (22.9) | 8596 (26.9) | 13 207 (20.1) | 4069 (40.2) | 3880 (40.3) | 189 (39.0) | 56 (39.7) | 52 (36.4) |
| Secondary | 891 458 (44.0) | 751 156 (43.4) | 140 302 (47.5) | 16 729 (52.3) | 29 352 (44.7) | 3107 (30.7) | 2958 (30.7) | 149 (30.8) | 46 (32.6) | 36 (25.2) |
| University | 593 745 (29.3) | 506 075 (29.2) | 87 670 (29.7) | 6678 (20.9) | 23 127 (35.2) | 2934 (29.0) | 2788 (29.0) | 146 (30.2) | 39 (27.7) | 55 (38.5) |
| Income quintile‡ | ||||||||||
| 1 (lowest quintile) | 405 929 (20.0) | 342 412 (19.8) | 63 517 (21.5) | 8222 (25.7) | 12 695 (19.3) | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2 | 405 486 (20.0) | 348 254 (20.1) | 57 232 (19.4) | 7472 (23.3) | 12 461 (19.0) | – | – | – | – | – |
| 3 | 405 173 (20.0) | 347 691 (20.1) | 57 482 (19.4) | 6801 (21.3) | 12 586 (19.2) | – | – | – | – | – |
| 4 | 405 175 (20.0) | 346 350 (20.0) | 58 825 (19.9) | 5620 (17.6) | 13 364 (20.3) | – | – | – | – | – |
| 5 (highest quintile) | 405 102 (20.0) | 346 476 (20.0) | 58 626 (19.8) | 3888 (12.1) | 14 580 (22.2) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Country of birth | ||||||||||
| Sweden | 1 805 438 (89.1) | 1 529 664 (88.4) | 275 774 (93.3) | 29 168 (91.1) | 62 160 (94.6) | 10 110 (100) | 9626 (100) | 484 (100) | 141 (100) | 143 (100) |
| Other Nordic countries§ | 92 043 (4.5) | 80 740 (4.7) | 11 303 (3.8) | 1650 (5.2) | 2083 (3.2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-Nordic countries | 129 384 (6.4) | 120 779 (7.0) | 8605 (2.9) | 1185 (3.7) | 1443 (2.2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Population density: median (interquartile range) inhabitant per square kilometre | 72.6 (228.8) | 76.7 (315.3) | 49.2 (92.8) | 45.0 (87.7) | 56.8 (106.2) | 60.7 (111.1) | 60.7 (114.7) | 41.8 (72.9) | 40.1 (70.3) | 45.9 (68.5) |
| Region of residence | ||||||||||
| Norrland | 269 897 (13.3) | 222 443 (12.8) | 47 454 (16.0) | 4791 (15.0) | 9476 (14.4) | 1621 (16.0) | 1518 (15.8) | 103 (21.3) | 32 (22.7) | 22 (15.4) |
| Svealand | 771 742 (38.1) | 669 673 (38.7) | 102 069 (34.5) | 10 278 (32.1) | 23 451 (35.7) | 3391 (33.5) | 3240 (33.7) | 151 (31.2) | 41 (29.1) | 42 (29.4) |
| Götaland | 985 226 (48.6) | 839 067 (48.5) | 146 159 (49.4) | 16 934 (52.9) | 32 759 (49.9) | 5098 (50.4) | 4868 (50.6) | 230 (47.5) | 68 (48.2) | 79 (55.2) |
| Exercise¶ | ||||||||||
| Little or none | – | – | – | – | 2139 (21.2) | 2064 (21.5) | 75 (15.5) | 29 (20.7) | 16 (11.2) | |
| Average | – | – | – | – | 2611 (25.9) | 2508 (26.2) | 103 (21.3) | 29 (20.7) | 27 (18.9) | |
| Above average | – | – | – | – | 5319 (52.8) | 5014 (52.3) | 305 (63.1) | 82 (58.6) | 100 (69.9) | |
| Tobacco use¶ | ||||||||||
| No history of tobacco | – | – | – | – | 4314 (42.7) | 4155 (43.2) | 159 (32.9) | 42 (29.8) | 46 (32.2) | |
| Previous tobacco user | – | – | – | – | 4061 (40.2) | 3833 (39.8) | 228 (47.1) | 69 (48.9) | 68 (47.6) | |
| Current tobacco user | – | – | – | – | 1735 (17.2) | 1638 (17.0) | 97 (20.0) | 30 (21.3) | 29 (20.3) | |
*Age is given at baseline. Numbers and % of the respective cohort are reported unless stated otherwise.
**For descriptive purposes, dog owners here are individuals who had a registered dog at any time point during the study period, and for TwinGene taken as ownership at the clinical test date.
†Proportion of this breed group of all participants.
↵‡Information on income not available for the TwinGene substudy in the Swedish Twin Register.
§Other Nordic countries include Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, the territories of the Åland Islands and the Faroe Islands.
↵¶Information on exercise levels and tobacco use was not available from the Register of the Total Population.
***Active dog breeds’ which comprises all terriers, scent hounds, pointing dog and retriever dog breed groups.