Population characteristics of golden retriever lifetime study enrollees

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Abstract

Background Studying cancer and other diseases poses a problem due to their protracted and multifactorial nature. Prospective studies are useful to investigate chronic disease processes since collection of lifestyle information, exposure data and co-incident health issues are collected before the condition manifests. The Golden Retriever Lifetime Study is one of the first prospective studies following privately-owned dogs throughout life to investigate the incidence and risk factors for disease outcomes, especially cancer. Owners of golden retrievers in the contiguous United States volunteered their dogs in early life. Owners and veterinarians complete online questionnaires about health status and lifestyle; dogs undergo a physical examination and collection of biological samples annually. The data presented summarize the initial study visits and the corresponding questionnaires for 3044 dogs in the cohort. Results The median age of dogs at enrollment was 14.0 months (interquartile range (IQR): 8–20 months). Approximately half of the population had undergone gonadectomy by their initial study visit. Medical conditions reported at enrollment consisted primarily of integumentary, gastrointestinal and urinary dysfunction. A large majority of the dogs have a record of having received preventive care (vaccines, parasiticides, flea and heartworm prevention) by the time of the initial study visit. Clinical pathology data were unremarkable. Conclusions This study represents one of the first lifetime observational investigations in veterinary medicine. The population characteristics reported here indicate a healthy cohort of golden retrievers cared for by owners committed to their dogs’ health. Data acquired over the study period will provide valuable information about genetic, dietary and environmental risk factors associated with disease in golden retrievers and a framework for future prospective studies in veterinary medicine. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s40575-017-0053-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Participation rates in epidemiologic studies.

Sandro Galea, Melissa Tracy (2007)

Participation rates for epidemiologic studies have been declining during the past 30 years with even steeper declines in recent years. This wholesale decrease in participation rate, or at the very least the increase in refusal, has, quite understandably, occasioned some concern among epidemiologists who have long considered a high study participation rate as one of the hallmarks of a "good" epidemiologic study. In this review we synthesize the issues that are central to epidemiologic thinking around declining study participation rates. We consider the reasons why study participation has been declining, summarize what we know about who does participate in epidemiologic studies, and discuss the implications of declining participation rates. We conclude with a discussion of methods that may help improve study participation rates.

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The Framingham Heart Study and the epidemiology of cardiovascular disease: a historical perspective

Syed S Mahmood, Daniel P. Levy, Ramachandran S Vasan … (2014)

The Lancet, 383(9921), 999-1008

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Mortality in north american dogs from 1984 to 2004: an investigation into age-, size-, and breed-related causes of death.

J. Fleming, K Creevy, D E L Promislow (2015)

Anecdotal beliefs and limited research suggest variable patterns of mortality in age, size, and breed cohorts of dogs. Detailed knowledge of mortality patterns would facilitate development of tailored health-maintenance practices and contribute to the understanding of the genetic basis of disease. To describe breed-specific causes of death in all instances of canine mortality recorded in the Veterinary Medical Database (VMDB)(a) between 1984 and 2004. We hypothesized that causes of death, categorized by organ system (OS) or pathophysiologic process (PP), would segregate by age, body mass, and breed. 74,556 dogs from the VMDB for which death was the outcome of the recorded hospital visit. Retrospective study. Causes of death from abstracted VMDB medical records were categorized by OS and PP and analyzed by age, breed, and breed-standard mass of dog. Causes of death, categorized by OS or PP, segregated by age, breed, and breed-standard mass. Young dogs died more commonly of gastrointestinal and infectious causes whereas older dogs died of neurologic and neoplastic causes. Increasing age was associated with an increasing risk of death because of cardiovascular, endocrine, and urogenital causes, but not because of hematopoietic or musculoskeletal causes. Dogs of larger breeds died more commonly of musculoskeletal and gastrointestinal causes whereas dogs of smaller breeds died more commonly of endocrine causes. Not all causes of death contribute equally to mortality within age, size, or breed cohorts. Documented patterns now provide multiple targets for clinical research and intervention. Copyright © 2011 by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.