Epidemiology of orthopaedic conditions in companion animals with emphasis on cranial cruciate ligament disease
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Lameness caused by orthopaedic disease is an important reason for owners to take their dog or cat to the veterinarian. Many diagnoses, such as cranial cruciate ligament disease (CCLD), considered the most common cause of hindlimb lameness in dogs, usually require expensive and complicated surgical interventions. Information regarding risk factors and treatment methods influencing disease outcome is consequently relevant for both pet owners and veterinarians. Although various studies had assessed the pathophysiology, epidemiology and treatment outcome of CCLD in dogs when this thesis was initiated, knowledge about inherent risk factors for development of the disease was limited. Moreover, there was a paucity of information regarding breed susceptibility for orthopaedic diseases in Norway and Sweden, and the scientific literature concerning CCLD in cats was sparse. \nThe overall aim of this thesis was to expand the understanding of orthopaedic diseases in dogs and cats, in particular related to breed susceptibility and risk factors with a potential influence on the prognosis of CCLD. To reach this aim, retrospective data from medical records at two university animal hospitals, the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and the Swedish University of Agricultural Science, were utilised, in addition to owner questionnaires and data from the national pet ID-registers. \nFirstly, a case-control study was performed to estimate breed susceptibility for common surgically treated orthopaedic conditions in popular Norwegian and Swedish dog breeds. The Labrador retriever, Rottweiler, German shepherd dog and Staffordshire bull terrier were identified to have increased risk of elbow dysplasia compared to mixed breed dogs. Susceptibility for CCLD was found for the Rottweiler, but not the Labrador retriever, although this breed has commonly been regarded as predisposed. The Chihuahua was the only breed with increased risk of medial patellar luxation. \nIn the second study, characteristics and long-term outcome of CCLD were described in a cohort of 50 cats followed for a median of 41 months. According to a standardised quality of life questionnaire, the conservatively treated cats experienced less chronic pain at longterm follow-up compared to cats surgically treated with the lateral fabellotibial suture technique. \nFinally, survival analysis was used to assess long-term outcome after CCLD treatment in dogs. Cranial cruciate ligament disease was a contributing cause to the decision of euthanasia in 18.3% of the 333 dogs included. Both treatment strategy, age, weight and orthopaedic comorbidities were identified as risk factors for CCLD-related euthanasia in the final multivariable Cox proportional hazard model. Dogs surgically treated by osteotomy techniques had a lower hazard of CCLD-related euthanasia compared to dogs receiving conservative treatment. \nAltogether, this thesis elucidates central aspects of orthopaedic diseases in dogs and cats. However, it is important to acknowledge the uncertainty of the results; causality cannot be inferred with complete certainty. Such ambiguity is typical for retrospective studies, emphasising the urgent need for well-designed prospective studies within the field of veterinary orthopaedic research.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".