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HEALTH

Overweight people more likely to have overweight dogs, Danish study finds

Overweight people are more likely to have overweight dogs, partly because they are more likely to feed them treats, Danish researchers said on Wednesday.

Overweight people more likely to have overweight dogs, Danish study finds
Stock image: bandd/Depositphotos

The study by the University of Copenhagen lends credence to the saying “like owner, like dog”, the scientists wrote in the journal Preventive Veterinary Medicine.

“The prevalence of heavy or obese dogs is more than twice as large among overweight or obese owners (35 percent) than among owners who are slim or of a normal weight (14 percent),” the researchers said.

Of the 268 dogs studied, 20 percent were overweight.

Average-weight owners tend to use treats for training purposes while overweight owners prefer to provide treats in convivial situations, “for example, when a person is relaxing on the couch and shares the last bites of a sandwich or a cookie with their dog,” the study's main author, Charlotte Bjørnvad, said.

In developed countries, 34 to 59 percent of dogs are overweight or obese, which can reduce their life expectancy and mobility or cause diabetes and cardiac disease just like in humans, another international team of researchers found in 2016.

On average, overweight dogs live 1.3 years less than dogs on restrictive diets.

The University of Copenhagen study also showed that castration tripled the risk of being heavy or obese.

“Castration seems to decrease the ability to regulate the appetite in male dogs and at the same time, it might also decrease the incentive to exercise which results in an increased risk of becoming overweight,” Bjørnvad said.

READ ALSO: Denmark to get 'dog-owner-only' apartments

 

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HEALTH

Lengthy waiting times at Danish hospitals not going away yet: minister

Danish Minister for the Interior and Health Sophie Løhde has warned that, despite increasing activity at hospitals, it will be some time before current waiting lists are reduced.

Lengthy waiting times at Danish hospitals not going away yet: minister

The message comes as Løhde was set to meet with officials from regional health authorities on Wednesday to discuss the progress of an acute plan for the Danish health system, launched at the end of last year in an effort to reduce a backlog of waiting times which built up during the coronavirus crisis.

An agreement with regional health authorities on an “acute” spending plan to address the most serious challenges faced by the health services agreed in February, providing 2 billion kroner by the end of 2024.

READ ALSO: What exactly is wrong with the Danish health system?

The national organisation for the health authorities, Danske Regioner, said to newspaper Jyllands-Posten earlier this week that progress on clearing the waiting lists was ahead of schedule.

Some 245,300 operations were completed in the first quarter of this year, 10 percent more than in the same period in 2022 and over the agreed number.

Løhde said that the figures show measures from the acute plan are “beginning to work”.

“It’s positive but even though it suggests that the trend is going the right way, we’re far from our goal and it’s important to keep it up so that we get there,” she said.

“I certainly won’t be satisfied until waiting times are brought down,” she said.

“As long as we are in the process of doing postponed operations, we will unfortunately continue to see a further increase [in waiting times],” Løhde said.

“That’s why it’s crucial that we retain a high activity this year and in 2024,” she added.

Although the government set aside 2 billion kroner in total for the plan, the regional authorities expect the portion of that to be spent in 2023 to run out by the end of the summer. They have therefore asked for some of the 2024 spending to be brought forward.

Løhde is so far reluctant to meet that request according to Jyllands-Posten.

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