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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Children and Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1450216
This article is part of the Research Topic Evidencing the Impact of Human-Animal Interaction for Those Living with Mental Health Problems View all 11 articles

Association of only-child status and household pet ownership with attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder among Chinese preschool children: a population-based study

Provisionally accepted
Yuying Zhang Yuying Zhang 1*Shuangyan Qiu Shuangyan Qiu 1*Vivian Yawei Guo Vivian Yawei Guo 2Wei-Qing Chen Wei-Qing Chen 2Xiaomei Han Xiaomei Han 1*Weikang Yang Weikang Yang 1*
  • 1 Shenzhen Longhua Maternity and child Healthcare Hospital, Shenzhen, China
  • 2 School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The associations of only-child status and household pet ownership with the risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are inconclusive, and the joint effect of only-child status and household pet ownership on ADHD has not been thoroughly investigated.: A population-based study was conducted in 2021 involving preschool children aged 3-6 years attending kindergartens in Longhua District, Shenzhen, China. Parents were invited to complete questionnaires providing information on social-demographic and familyenvironmental factors. ADHD symptoms were assessed using the 26-item Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham Rating Scale as reported by parents.Results: This study included 63,282 children (mean age:4.86± 0.85 years, 53.6% were boys), representing 72.6% of all preschool children in this district in 2021. Among them, 9.6% were identified as having ADHD. Only-child status was associated with an increased risk of ADHD [adjusted odds ratio: 1.32(95%CI: 1.25-1.40)]. Compared to children without pet (cats or dogs) at ages 0-3 years, pet ownership at ages only 0-1 years, only 1-3 years, and both ages was associated with increased odds of ADHD: 1.58 (1.28-1.92), 1.54 (1.25-1.88), and 1.64(1.41-1.89), respectively, after controlling for potential confounders. A significant interaction between pet ownership at ages only 1-3 years and only-child status was observed (adjusted P for interaction=0.020). Similar findings were observed when the analyses were performed separately for boys and girls.Conclusions: Both only-child status and household pet ownership are associated with an increased risk of ADHD; however, the detrimental effect of pet ownership appears to be mitigated among only children when pet exposure occurred at ages 1-3 years, providing insight into reducing family-related risk factors of ADHD.

    Keywords: Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Preschool children, Only child status, pet ownership, joint-effect

    Received: 17 Jun 2024; Accepted: 30 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Qiu, Guo, Chen, Han and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Yuying Zhang, Shenzhen Longhua Maternity and child Healthcare Hospital, Shenzhen, China
    Shuangyan Qiu, Shenzhen Longhua Maternity and child Healthcare Hospital, Shenzhen, China
    Xiaomei Han, Shenzhen Longhua Maternity and child Healthcare Hospital, Shenzhen, China
    Weikang Yang, Shenzhen Longhua Maternity and child Healthcare Hospital, Shenzhen, China

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