Owning a Pet Is Associated with Changes in the Composition of Gut Microbiota and Could Influence the Risk of Metabolic Disorders in Humans

Pet ownership positively influences clinical outcomes in cardiovascular prevention. Additionally, cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been previously linked to microbiota dysbiosis. We evaluated the influence of owning a pet and its relationship with the intestinal microbiota. We analyzed the gut microbiota from 162 coronary patients from the CORDIOPREV study (NCT00924937) according to whether they owned pets (n = 83) or not (n = 79). The pet-owner group was further divided according to whether they owned dogs only (n = 28) or not (n = 55). A 7-item pet-owners test score was used. Patients who owned pets had less risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS) (OR = 0.462) and obesity (OR = 0.519) and were younger (p < 0.001) than patients who did not own pets. Additionally, patients who owned dogs had less risk of MetS (OR = 0.378) and obesity (OR = 0.418) and were younger (p < 0.001) than patients who did not own pets. A preponderance of the genera Serratia and Coprococcus was found in the group of owners, while the genera Ruminococcus, an unknown genus of Enterobacteriaceae and Anaerotruncus were preponderant in the group of non-owners. In patients who owned dogs, Methanobrevibacter and two more genera, Coprococcus and Oscillospira, were more common. Our study suggests that the prevalence of MetS and obesity in CVD patients is lower in pet owners, and that pet ownership could be a protective factor against MetS through the shaping of the gut microbiota. Thus, owning a pet could be considered as a protective factor against cardiometabolic diseases.The CORDIOPREV study is supported by the Fundación Patrimonio Comunal Olivarero, Junta de Andalucía (Consejería de Salud, Consejería de Agricultura y Pesca, Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa), Diputaciones de Jaén y Córdoba, Centro de Excelencia en Investigación sobre Aceite de Oliva y Salud and Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, Medio Rural y Marino, Gobierno de España; Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CP14/00114, CPII19/00007, PI19/00299 and DTS19/00007 to A.C.; PI13/00619 to F P-J; PI16/01777 to F.P.-J. and P.P.-M.). Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (AGL2012/39615, PIE14/00005, and PIE14/00031 to J.L.-M.; AGL2015-67896-P to J.L.-M. and A.C.); Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa, Proyectos de Investigación de Excelencia, Junta de Andalucía (CVI-7450 to J.L.-M.); and by the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER). Antonio Camargo is supported by an ISCIII research contract (Programa Miguel-Servet CP14/00114 and CPII19/00007).Ye