{"entity": "researcher", "timestamp": "2026-08-20T20:40:30.191Z", "family": "Westgarth", "given": "Carri", "initials": "C", "orcid": "0000-0003-0471-2761", "affiliations": ["Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.", "Institute of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom."], "links": {"self": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/667677f3c64d4be091bbafec59121673.json"}, "display": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/667677f3c64d4be091bbafec59121673"}}, "publications": [{"entity": "publication", "iuid": "b9931f1b0bf341e088ae49a9ad9507b5", "links": {"self": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/b9931f1b0bf341e088ae49a9ad9507b5.json"}, "display": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/b9931f1b0bf341e088ae49a9ad9507b5"}}, "title": "The shared risk of diabetes between dog and cat owners and their pets: register based cohort study.", "authors": [{"family": "Delicano", "given": "Rachel Ann", "initials": "RA", "orcid": "0000-0001-9236-2591", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/54cf229b95ba4047a6a5d9072030dde4.json"}}, {"family": "Hammar", "given": "Ulf", "initials": "U", "orcid": "0000-0001-8367-5000", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/b833fa7c77f542aabd5b04f4d9c02afd.json"}}, {"family": "Egenvall", "given": "Agneta", "initials": "A", "orcid": "0000-0002-8677-6066", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/6be77d87c213470bb2d34865673f7739.json"}}, {"family": "Westgarth", "given": "Carri", "initials": "C", "orcid": "0000-0003-0471-2761", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/667677f3c64d4be091bbafec59121673.json"}}, {"family": "Mubanga", "given": "Mwenya", "initials": "M", "orcid": "0000-0002-6877-4307", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/e59db54157224a199f5868e75a525bd6.json"}}, {"family": "Byberg", "given": "Liisa", "initials": "L", "orcid": "0000-0002-4421-6466", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/079e2e50ce7a4bc8ae14ecf7512a415d.json"}}, {"family": "Fall", "given": "Tove", "initials": "T", "orcid": "0000-0003-2071-5866", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/7dbbd468e6da4727b69333ade942c071.json"}}, {"family": "Kennedy", "given": "Beatrice", "initials": "B", "orcid": "0000-0002-0066-4814", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/cb88fcd6bead49978b129dffe779d8a0.json"}}], "type": "journal article", "published": "2020-12-10", "journal": {"title": "BMJ", "issn": "1756-1833", "volume": "371", "pages": "m4337", "issn-l": "1756-1833"}, "abstract": "To investigate whether dog and cat owners and their pets share a risk of developing diabetes.\n\nCohort study.\n\nRegister based longitudinal study, Sweden.\n\n208 980 owner-dog pairs and 123 566 owner-cat pairs identified during a baseline assessment period (1 January 2004 to 31 December 2006).\n\nType 2 diabetes events in dog and cat owners and diabetes events in their pets, including date of diagnosis during the follow-up period (1 January 2007 to 31 December 2012). Owners with type 2 diabetes were identified by combining information from the National Patient Register, the Cause of Death Register, and the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register. Information on diabetes in the pets was extracted from veterinary care insurance data. Multi-state models were used to assess the hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals and to adjust for possible shared risk factors, including personal and socioeconomic circumstances.\n\nThe incidence of type 2 diabetes during follow-up was 7.7 cases per 1000 person years at risk in dog owners and 7.9 cases per 1000 person years at risk in cat owners. The incidence of diabetes in the pets was 1.3 cases per 1000 dog years at risk and 2.2 cases per 1000 cat years at risk. The crude hazard ratio for type 2 diabetes in owners of a dog with diabetes compared with owners of a dog without diabetes was 1.38 (95% confidence interval 1.10 to 1.74), with a multivariable adjusted hazard ratio of 1.32 (1.04 to 1.68). Having an owner with type 2 diabetes was associated with an increased hazard of diabetes in the dog (crude hazard ratio 1.28, 1.01 to 1.63), which was attenuated after adjusting for owner's age, with the confidence interval crossing the null (1.11, 0.87 to 1.42). No association was found between type 2 diabetes in cat owners and diabetes in their cats (crude hazard ratio 0.99, 0.74 to 1.34, and 1.00, 0.78 to 1.28, respectively).\n\nData indicated that owners of a dog with diabetes were more likely to develop type 2 diabetes during follow-up than owners of a dog without diabetes. It is possible that dogs with diabetes could serve as a sentinel for shared diabetogenic health behaviours and environmental exposures.", "doi": "10.1136/bmj.m4337", "pmid": "33303475", "labels": [], "xrefs": [{"db": "pmc", "key": "PMC7726310"}], "notes": [], "created": "2026-08-20T12:02:03.884Z", "modified": "2026-08-20T12:02:04.017Z"}, {"entity": "publication", "iuid": "523b6c6e430a45ecbecbd585cd319ea0", "links": {"self": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/523b6c6e430a45ecbecbd585cd319ea0.json"}, "display": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/523b6c6e430a45ecbecbd585cd319ea0"}}, "title": "Evidence of large genetic influences on dog ownership in the Swedish Twin Registry has implications for understanding domestication and health associations.", "authors": [{"family": "Fall", "given": "Tove", "initials": "T", "orcid": "0000-0003-2071-5866", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/7dbbd468e6da4727b69333ade942c071.json"}}, {"family": "Kuja-Halkola", "given": "Ralf", "initials": "R", "orcid": "0000-0002-3765-2067", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/aa7c15f87c0e494ba8d5a049a848f2b8.json"}}, {"family": "Dobney", "given": "Keith", "initials": "K"}, {"family": "Westgarth", "given": "Carri", "initials": "C", "orcid": "0000-0003-0471-2761", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/667677f3c64d4be091bbafec59121673.json"}}, {"family": "Magnusson", "given": "Patrik K E", "initials": "PKE", "orcid": "0000-0002-7315-7899", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/d6fa8b01df9f4bf68607603c51c5a106.json"}}], "type": "journal article", "published": "2019-05-17", "journal": {"title": "Sci Rep", "issn": "2045-2322", "volume": "9", "issue": "1", "pages": "7554", "issn-l": "2045-2322"}, "abstract": "Dogs were the first domesticated animal and, according to the archaeological evidence, have had a close relationship with humans for at least 15,000 years. Today, dogs are common pets in our society and have been linked to increased well-being and improved health outcomes in their owners. A dog in the family during childhood is associated with ownership in adult life. The underlying factors behind this association could be related to experiences or to genetic influences. We aimed to investigate the heritability of dog ownership in a large twin sample including all twins in the Swedish Twin Registry born between 1926 and 1996 and alive in 2006. Information about dog ownership was available from 2001 to 2016 from national dog registers. The final data set included 85,542 twins from 50,507 twin pairs with known zygosity, where information on both twins were available in 35,035 pairs. Structural equation modeling was performed to estimate additive genetic effects (the heritability), common/shared environmental, and unique/non-shared environmental effects. We found that additive genetic factors largely contributed to dog ownership, with heritability estimated at 57% for females and 51% for males. An effect of shared environmental factors was only observed in early adulthood. In conclusion, we show a strong genetic contribution to dog ownership in adulthood in a large twin study. We see two main implications of this finding: (1) genetic variation may have contributed to our ability to domesticate dogs and other animals and (2) potential pleiotropic effects of genetic variation affecting dog ownership should be considered in studies examining health impacts of dog ownership.", "doi": "10.1038/s41598-019-44083-9", "pmid": "31101867", "labels": [], "xrefs": [{"db": "pmc", "key": "PMC6525200"}, {"db": "pii", "key": "10.1038/s41598-019-44083-9"}], "notes": [], "created": "2026-08-20T09:04:34.544Z", "modified": "2026-08-20T09:04:34.695Z"}]}