L'animal de compagnie : un soutien médico-psychologique sous-estimé ?

Cet article, qui ne prétend pas constituer une revue exhaustive de la littérature, a pour but de (re)sensibiliser le lecteur aux bienfaits de l'animal de compagnie sur la santé médico-psychologique et sociale. Alors que les bienfaits physiques et locomoteurs d'avoir un animal de compagnie sont évidents, les autres relais, sociaux, cardiovasculaires, endocriniens et immunitaires sont, eux, moins bien connus. Chez les sujets avec ou sans pathologie cardiovasculaire, des liens ont été établis selon lesquels le fait d'être propriétaire d'un animal de compagnie a des effets sur l'hypertension, l'hyperlipidémie, l'activité physique, l'obésité, le système nerveux autonome, la réactivité cardiovasculaire et le taux de survie chez les sujets avec ou sans pathologie cardiovasculaire établie. Les relais par lesquels le bien-être physique est amélioré chez son propriétaire par l'animal sont essentiellement d'ordre cardiovasculaire, locomoteur et immunitaire. Le bien-être psychologique, lui, transite surtout par les relais sociaux. Il s'avère toutefois que la plupart des travaux sont essentiellement centrés sur des propriétaires de chiens, et qu'une lacune existe dans la littérature scientifique quant aux propriétaires de chats et de ce que l'on appelle les « NAC », à savoir les Nouveaux Animaux de Compagnie. Pet ownership seems to be medico-psychologically helpful and is thought to make a positive contribution to health, health behaviors and the general well-being of young and older people. For many years, researchers have hypothesized about the influence pets may have on their owners' health, specifically in regard to loneliness, stress, and anxiety. However, such information was anecdotal until the early 1980s, when scientific research demonstrated increased one-year survival rate for pet-owning cardiac patients. Subsequent research has expanded to explore the neuroendocrine pathways that may account for the positive physical and psychosocial health benefits of pet ownership. The widespread ownership of pets among people of various ages and the effort and money spent on behalf of pets suggests that a majority of owners derive a significant benefit from their companionship. People's histories with pets are likely to influence their pattern of ownership, the benefits they derive from ownership, their perceptions of the pet's role and the degree to which the pet influences the person's sense of well-being. This article, which does not claim to be an exhaustive review of the literature, aims to (re) sensitize the reader to the benefits of pet ownership and the human – companion animal interaction on medico-psychological health. Pet ownership, or just being in the presence of a companion animal, is associated with health benefits, including improvements in mental, social, and physiologic health status. While the physical and musculoskeletal benefits of having a pet are obvious, the other relays, social, cardiovascular and immune, are less well known. Even if dog ownership appears to facilitate walking behavior, only a minority of older dog owners walks their dogs. There are links between pet's ownership, and hypertension, hyperlipidemia, physical activity, obesity, autonomic function, heart rate variability, cardiovascular reactivity, enhanced secretion of S-IgA, stress-related parameters such as cortisol, improvement of immune system functioning, pain management and survival in people with and without established cardiovascular disease. Positive relationships show measurably higher oxytocin with lower cortisol and alpha-amylase levels. Psychological well-being, for its part, passes mainly through social relays. The psychological benefits of companion animals are most likely to be through reduction in depression, anxiety, social isolation, self-reported fear and anxiety, reported loneliness, and through enhanced empathy, improved learning, increased trustworthiness of and trust toward other persons. These benefits, however, are probably linked to the degree of bonding of the owner with the animal. It appears, however, that most of the existing work is focused primarily on dog owners, and that a gap exists in the scientific literature about cat owners and the so-called "NACs", namely New Pets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]