Using veterinary health records at scale to investigate ageing dogs and their common issues in primary care.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

The UK dog population is living longer, raising concerns about their welfare as a result of ageing-related diseases. Our primary objective was to determine when dogs enter the "old age" life stage based on free-text clinical narratives in veterinary electronic health records. In addition, to identify common conditions documented during consultations with old dogs.

Materials and methods

Regular expressions were developed for: ageing, elderly, geriatric, senior and old. These were used to search the veterinary clinical narratives within a large database of veterinary electronic health records. A sample of 1000 consultations were then read, and those confirmed as being old age classified according to a modified scheme based on the World Health Organization Internatio

SUBMITTER: Jackson J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11821469 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature