Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How weather affects activity and owner reports in dogs
By Katz, Erin M et al.·Published in Veterinary and comparative orthopaedics and traumatology : V.C.O.T·2017·Department of Comparative Medicine, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Evaluation of the Environmental Bias on Accelerometer-Measured Total Daily Activity Counts and Owner Survey Responses in Dogs with Osteoarthritis.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study looked at how environmental factors, like temperature and daylight, might affect the daily activity levels of dogs with osteoarthritis (OA) and their owners' perceptions of their dogs' pain and quality of life. The researchers found that while daily activity levels did slightly correlate with average temperature and daylight hours, these factors didn't significantly impact how active the dogs were or how their owners rated their pain. Interestingly, over time, owners reported less pain and interference in their dogs' lives, suggesting that the owners' perceptions may have improved due to a placebo effect.
People also search for: dog osteoarthritis activity level · how to help dog with arthritis pain · environmental factors affecting dog health
Abstract
 To determine if environmental variables affect the average daily activity counts (AC) of dogs with osteoarthritis (OA) and/or owners' perception of their dog's clinical signs or quality of life. The AC and Canine Brief Pain Inventory (CBPI) owner questionnaires of 62 dogs with OA were compared with daily environmental variables including the following: average temperature (°C), high temperature (°C), low temperature (°C), relative humidity (%), total precipitation (mm), average barometric pressure (hPa) and total daylight hours. Daily AC significantly correlated with average temperature and total daylight hours, but average temperature and total daylight hours accounted for less than 1% of variation in AC. No other significant relationships were found between daily AC and daily high temperature, low temperature, relative humidity, total precipitation or average barometric pressure. No statistical relationship was found between daily AC and the CBPI, nor between environmental variables and the CBPI. Canine Brief Pain Inventory scores for pain severity and pain interference decreased significantly over the test period. The relationship between daily AC and average temperature and total daylight hours was significant, but unlikely to be clinically significant. Thus, environmental variables do not appear to have a clinically relevant bias on AC or owner CBPI questionnaires. The decrease over time in CBPI pain severity and pain interference values suggests owners completing the CBPI in this study were influenced by a caregiver placebo effect.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29202500/