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HEALTH AND FITNESS NEWS AND EVENTS

PERSONALITY type may be linked to a heightened risk of being bitten by a dog with people of a more anxious disposition more likely to be nipped, a study has found.

Research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health also suggests the actual number of dog bites may be nearly three times higher than hospital records indicate as only one in three people attends A&E for their injury.

The study discovered one in four people surveyed had been bitten with men twice as likely to be victims as women.

People who owned several dogs were more than three times as likely to have been bitten as those who didn’t, and 55% said they were bitten by a dog they didn’t know.