Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Prognosis scores for death and long hospital stay in 504 dogs
By Cridge, Harry et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2025·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Multi-Institutional Retrospective Analysis of Prognostic Scoring Systems for Dogs With Acute Pancreatitis (504 Dogs).
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study involving 504 dogs with acute pancreatitis (AP) found that predicting outcomes can be tricky due to the varied symptoms and severity of the condition. The researchers compared five different scoring systems to see which could best predict the likelihood of death or a longer hospital stay. They discovered that two scoring systems, APPLE and MCAI, were more accurate in indicating which dogs might need extended care. However, even if a dog scores high on these tests, it doesn't guarantee a poor outcome, as many dogs recover well.
People also search for: dog pancreatitis symptoms · dog hospitalization after pancreatitis · APPLE scoring system for dogs
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Acute pancreatitis (AP) in dogs has a broad clinical presentation and variable progression, making prognostication challenging. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES: (i) To compare predicted prognosis for death and for prolonged (≥ 5 days) hospitalization across scoring schemes for AP in dogs and (ii) to predict concordance of each scoring scheme with death and for prolonged hospitalization. ANIMALS: Five hundred four client-owned dogs. METHODS: Multi-institutional retrospective study. Data extracted from medical records included: signalment, history, physical examination findings, diagnostic results, length of hospitalization, and death. Five prognostic schemes (OS, CSI, APPLE, CAPS, MCAI) were calculated for each dog. RESULTS: Overall concordance was low. Only APPLE(p = 0.004) and MCAI (p = 0.01) scores were significantly different between survivors and non-survivors. Overall, APPLEhad the greatest concordance (0.632, 95% CI: 0.592-0.672) with length of hospitalization. Of the other more pancreatitis-specific schemes, MCAI had the greatest concordance (0.576, 95% CI: 0.567-0.635) with length of hospitalization, while CSI had the lowest concordance with length of hospitalization (0.525, 95% CI: 0.494-0.556). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: On a population level, APPLEand MCAI had the greatest predictive discrimination between dogs of normal and prolonged hospitalization. If an individual dog has any of the 5 prognostic score schemes above the proposed cut-off for death, it should be interpreted with caution because of the low case fatality rate.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40326083/