Body weight, gonadectomy, and other risk factors for diagnosis of osteoarthritis in companion dogs

ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to evaluate age, sex, body weight, breed, neuter status, and age at neutering as risk factors for diagnosis of osteoarthritis in companion dogs.AnimalsDogs seen as patients at Banfield Pet Hospital in the United States from 1998 to 2019 with a date of death in 2019. The final cohort consisted of 131,140 dogs.MethodsIn this retrospective cohort study, Cox proportional hazard models were used to test for associations between osteoarthritis incidence and age at baseline, sex, maximum body weight, maximum body condition score, neuter status, and age at neutering. The same model was used to test these associations in 12 representative breeds, chosen based on breed weight and sample size.ResultsOlder age, higher adult body weight, gonadectomy, and younger age at gonadectomy were significantly associated with higher risks of osteoarthritis in the total cohort and in all 12 breeds evaluated. Higher body condition scores and sex were also significantly associated with osteoarthritis but with minimal effect sizes in the overall cohort, and these risk factors were not consistently significant in all breeds tested.Clinical relevanceThese results will assist veterinarians in identifying dogs at higher risk for osteoarthritis and applying appropriate diagnostic, preventative, and treatment interventions. An understanding of potentially modifiable risk factors, such as body condition and neutering, will support evidence-based discussions with dog owners about risk management in individual patients

SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity are associated with genetic variants affecting gene expression in a variety of tissues

Variability in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and COVID-19 disease severity between individuals is partly due to genetic factors. Here, we identify 4 genomic loci with suggestive associations for SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility and 19 for COVID-19 disease severity. Four of these 23 loci likely have an ethnicity-specific component. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) signals in 11 loci colocalize with expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) associated with the expression of 20 genes in 62 tissues/cell types (range: 1:43 tissues/gene), including lung, brain, heart, muscle, and skin as well as the digestive system and immune system. We perform genetic fine mapping to compute 99% credible SNP sets, which identify 10 GWAS loci that have eight or fewer SNPs in the credible set, including three loci with one single likely causal SNP. Our study suggests that the diverse symptoms and disease severity of COVID-19 observed between individuals is associated with variants across the genome, affecting gene expression levels in a wide variety of tissue types

A first update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19

peer reviewe

Antimicrobial use practices in canine and feline dental procedures performed in primary care veterinary practices in the United States.

This study examined the utilization of antimicrobials in canines and felines receiving dental treatments in veterinary clinics in the United States, retrospectively. A total of 818,150 animals (713,901 procedures in dogs and 104,249 procedures in cats) underwent dental procedures under general anesthesia in 2020. These included dental prophylaxis and extractions. Patient demographic data, antimicrobial treatment, treatment duration, dose, periodontal disease score, whether tooth extractions were performed and how many extractions were performed was recorded. Our results showed that local or systemic antimicrobials were used in 116,723/713,901 (16.4%) procedures in dogs and 14,264/104,249 (14%) procedures in cats. Age, weight, extraction of one or more teeth and diagnosis of periodontal disease (any stage) were associated with increased likelihood of antimicrobial administration using univariable analysis (all P<0.001) and in the multivariable model. Clindamycin, amoxicillin-clavulanate and amoxicillin were the most common oral antimicrobials used in dogs and cats. Drugs classified as highest priority clinically important antibiotics (HPCIA) were administered to 30,960/116,723 (26.5%) of dogs and 7,469/14,264 (52%) of treated cats. The results obtained can inform interventions to optimize patient care and promote prudent use of antimicrobials during dental procedures in canine and feline patients

An early prediction model for canine chronic kidney disease based on routine clinical laboratory tests.

The aim of this study was to derive a model to predict the risk of dogs developing chronic kidney disease (CKD) using data from electronic health records (EHR) collected during routine veterinary practice. Data from 57,402 dogs were included in the study. Two thirds of the EHRs were used to build the model, which included feature selection and identification of the optimal neural network type and architecture. The remaining unseen EHRs were used to evaluate model performance. The final model was a recurrent neural network with 6 features (creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, urine specific gravity, urine protein, weight, age). Identifying CKD at the time of diagnosis, the model displayed a sensitivity of 91.4% and a specificity of 97.2%. When predicting future risk of CKD, model sensitivity was 68.8% at 1 year, and 44.8% 2 years before diagnosis. Positive predictive value (PPV) varied between 15 and 23% and was influenced by the age of the patient, while the negative predictive value remained above 99% under all tested conditions. While the modest PPV limits its use as a stand-alone diagnostic screening tool, high specificity and NPV make the model particularly effective at identifying patients that will not go on to develop CKD