David B. Church's research while affiliated with Royal Veterinary College and other places
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Publications (271)
Objectives:
Periodontal disease is a multifactorial inflammatory disease that can have major welfare implications in cats. This study aimed to report the frequency and demographic risk factors of periodontal disease and to explore associations with common comorbid disorders in cats in the UK.
Methods:
The study included a random sample of 18,249...
Objectives:
The objectives of this study were to generate a robust evidence base on the prevalence of common disorders in cats and develop a deeper understanding of disorder associations with sex and age that could offer important opportunities for targeted veterinary care to improve feline health and welfare.
Methods:
A random sample of 18,249...
This study aimed to evaluate demographic risk factors associated with unilateral cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) rupture diagnosis and to explore demographic and clinical risk factors associated with management of unilateral CCL rupture in dogs under primary veterinary care in the UK. A retrospective cohort study design was used. Clinical records w...
Background
Hypothyroidism is a commonly diagnosed endocrinopathy in dogs. This study aimed to investigate the frequency and risk factors for diagnosis of hypothyroidism in UK primary-care practice. Dogs diagnosed with hypothyroidism were identified by searching electronic patient records of primary-care practices participating in VetCompass. A coho...
Background
The English Bulldog has risen sharply in popularity over the past decade but its distinctive and extreme conformation is linked to several serious health conditions. Using multivariable analysis of anonymised veterinary clinical data from the VetCompass Programme, this study compared the odds of common disorders between English Bulldogs...
Background:
Hamsters are popular pets worldwide but there is limited evidence on the overall health issues of pet hamsters. This study aimed to characterise the demography, disorder prevalence and mortality of pet hamsters in the United Kingdom.
Method:
The VetCompass study included anonymised clinical records of 16,605 hamsters.
Results:
The...
Plain English summary
Pugs have become phenomenally popular in the UK over recent decades. The breed has a flat-faced look (brachycephalic) that many humans find highly attractive and ‘cute’ but this flat face is also linked to several serious health problems. Consequently, there is growing concern about the welfare issues associated with the popul...
A life table is a tabulated expression of life expectancy and mortality-related information at specified ages in a given population. This study utilised VetCompass data to develop life tables for the UK companion dog population and broken down by sex, Kennel Club breed group, and common breeds. Among 30,563 dogs that died between 1st January 2016 a...
The new edition of this innovative textbook on clinical reasoning in veterinary medicine, provides a simple and logical approach for solving a wide range of clinical problems
Clinical Reasoning in Veterinary Practice: Problem Solved! 2nd Edition continues to provide a revolutionary approach for rapidly and efficiently solving clinical problems enc...
Background:
Urethral obstruction (UO) has a negative effect on welfare of cats.
Objectives:
This study aimed to determine incidence, case management, and outcomes of UO in cats in primary-care practice in the United Kingdom.
Animals:
All male cats under veterinary care within the VetCompass database in 2016.
Methods:
A retrospective cohort s...
Background:
Several diagnostic techniques are used in dogs with signs of respiratory disease. The aims of the present study are to estimate the relative sensitivities and associations between the results of diagnostic tests in dogs with respiratory conditions.
Method:
A retrospective cross-sectional study of dogs referred for investigation of re...
Background
Prolapsed nictitating membrane gland (PNMG) is the most common disorder of the third eyelid in dogs. However, the epidemiology of PNMG in the wider dog population remains understudied.
Methods
Using de-identified clinical data from the VetCompass Programme, this cohort study aimed to report the prevalence, demographic and breed-related...
Undesirable behaviours (UBs) in dogs are common and important issues with serious potential welfare consequences for both the dogs and their owners. This study aimed to investigate the usage of drug therapy for UBs in dogs and assess demographic risk factors for drug-prescribed UBs within the dog population under primary-care veterinary care in the...
Background
The French Bulldog is a highly popular dog breed but is linked with many serious health issues. A holistic view of breed health in French Bulldogs would assist efforts to appreciate the overall health strengths and weaknesses in the French Bulldog and to take appropriate steps to mitigate these.
Based on random sampling of French Bulldog...
Objectives
To estimate the frequency and risk factors for Cushing's syndrome in dogs under UK primary veterinary care.
Materials and Methods
Dogs with Cushing's syndrome were identified by searching electronic patient records of primary-care veterinary practices. Pre-existing and incident cases of Cushing's syndrome during 2016 were included to es...
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common feline endocrinopathy, which is similar to human type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in terms of its pathophysiology. T2DM occurs due to peripheral insulin resistance and/or β-cell dysfunction. Several studies have identified genetic and environmental factors that contribute to susceptibility to human T2DM. In cats, environmen...
To evaluate the incidence and risk factors for aural haematoma in dogs under primary veterinary care in the UK. A cohort study design. Dogs diagnosed with aural haematoma during 2016 were identified from the VetCompass database. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression modelling were used for risk factor analysis. There were 2,249/905,554...
Background
Otitis externa is a commonly diagnosed disorder in dogs and can carry a high welfare impact on affected animals. This study aimed to report the prevalence and explore the role of breed and aural conformation as predisposing factors for canine otitis externa in the UK. The study used a cohort design of dogs under UK primary veterinary car...
The Labrador Retriever is one of the most popular dog breeds worldwide, therefore it is important to have reliable evidence on the general health issues of the breed. Using anonymised veterinary clinical data from the VetCompass Programme, this study aimed to explore the relative risk to common disorders in the Labrador Retriever. The clinical reco...
Objectives
To estimate the frequency and breed-related risk factors for keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS) in dogs under UK primary veterinary care.
Methods
Analysis of cohort electronic patient record data through the VetCompass Programme. Risk factor analysis used multivariable logistic regression.
Results
There were 1456 KCS cases overall from 3...
The loss of a pet can be particularly distressing for owners, whether the method of death is euthanasia or is unassisted. Using primary-care clinical data, this study aimed to report the demographic and clinical factors associated with euthanasia, relative to unassisted death, in dogs. Method of death (euthanasia or unassisted) and clinical cause o...
Cushing’s syndrome is an endocrine disease in dogs that negatively impacts upon the quality-of-life of affected animals. Cushing’s syndrome can be a challenging diagnosis to confirm, therefore new methods to aid diagnosis are warranted. Four machine-learning algorithms were applied to predict a future diagnosis of Cushing's syndrome, using structur...
Objectives:
To evaluate the prevalence and risk factors for overweight status in dogs under primary veterinary care in the UK.
Materials and methods:
A retrospective study design was used to estimate the 1-year (2016) period prevalence of overweight status. The clinical records were randomly ordered and manually validated for dogs with overweigh...
Background:
Non-neoplastic anal sac disorders (ASD) are frequent presentations for dogs in primary-care practice but evidence-based information on disease occurrence and risk is sparse. This study estimates prevalence, breed associations and other risk factors as well as reporting on clinical management.
Methods:
A cohort study of dogs attending...
Background
Although dogs are a commonly owned companion animal in the UK, the species experiences many health problems that are predictable from demographic information. This study aimed to use anonymised veterinary clinical data from the VetCompass™ Programme to report the frequency of common disorders of dogs under primary veterinary care in the...
Objectives:
To estimate the frequency, clinical approaches and risk factors of hypoadrenocorticism in dogs under UK primary veterinary care.
Materials and methods:
Dogs diagnosed with hypoadrenocorticism were identified from the UK VetCompass™ programme by searching anonymised electronic patient records. Pre-existing and newly diagnosed cases of...
Objectives:
The aim of the study was to document whether a proportion of non-diabetic cats with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) previously diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) have elevated circulating insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) concentrations.
Methods:
A retrospective analysis of residual blood samples obtained at the t...
Background
Hypersomatotropism (HST) is an increasingly recognized endocrinopathy in cats and is mostly described associated with diabetes mellitus (DM).
Objectives
To evaluate the efficacy and safety of transsphenoidal hypophysectomy in treating HST and DM in cats.
Animals
Sixty‐eight client‐owned cats with HST and DM treated by transsphenoidal h...
Citation: Mirczuk, S.M.; Scudder, C.J.; Read, J.E.; Crossley, V.J.; Regan, J.T.; Richardson, K.M.; Simbi, B.; McArdle, C.A.; Church, D.B.; Fenn, J.; et al. Natriuretic Peptide Expression and Function in GH3 Somatolactotropes and Feline Somatotrope Pituitary Tumours. Int.
The loss of a pet can be particularly distressing for owners, whether the method of death is euthanasia or is unassisted. Using primary-care clinical data, this study aimed to report the demographic and clinical factors associated with euthanasia, relative to unassisted death, in dogs. Method of death (euthanasia or unassisted) and clinical cause o...
Brachycephalic dog breeds are regularly asserted as being less healthy than non-brachycephalic breeds. Using primary-care veterinary clinical data, this study aimed to identify predispositions and protections in brachycephalic dogs and explore differing inferences between univariable and multivariable results. All disorders during 2016 were extract...
Background:
Little epidemiological evaluation of recurrent seizure disorders in cats currently exists in veterinary literature.
Objectives:
To report the prevalence and risk factors for recurrent seizure disorders (RSD) and epilepsy in cats presented to primary care veterinary practices in the United Kingdom (UK).
Animals:
A total of 285 547 c...
Background
The Staffordshire Bull Terrier is a popular dog breed in the UK but there is limited reliable evidence on disorder predispositions and protections within the breed. Using anonymised veterinary clinical data from the VetCompass™ Programme, this study aimed to identify common disorders with predisposition and protection in the Staffordshir...
Background:
Novel methods to aid identification of dogs with spontaneous Cushing's syndrome are warranted to optimize case selection for diagnostics, avoid unnecessary testing, and ultimately aid decision-making for veterinarians.
Hypothesis/objectives:
To develop and internally validate a prediction tool for dogs receiving a diagnosis of Cushin...
Objective:
To describe responses of cats prescribed a hydrolysed diet with or without concurrent medication for chronic vomiting and/or diarrhoea of undetermined aetiology.
Materials and methods:
Anonymised records of 512,213 cats under UK veterinary care in 2016 from the VetCompass database were searched using relevant terms for hydrolysed diet...
Objectives: Systemic glucocorticoids are widely used in companion animals. This study aimed to estimate the frequency, describe the characteristics and to evaluate risk factors for common side effects to systemic glucocorticoid therapy in dogs under primary veterinary care in the UK.
Methods: A cohort study using VetCompass™ data from 455,557 dogs...
Background
Vestibular disease (VD), central or peripheral, can be a dramatic primary‐care presentation. Current literature describes mostly dogs examined in referral centers.
Hypothesis/Objectives
Describe the prevalence, presentation, clinical management, and outcomes of VD in dogs under primary veterinary care at UK practices participating in Ve...
Objectives
An affordable and effective treatment is needed to manage feline hypersomatotropism. The aim of this study was to assess whether treatment with oral cabergoline for 90 days in cats with hypersomatotropism and diabetes mellitus improved diabetic and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) control.
Methods
This was a prospective cohort non-b...
Lipomas are relatively common and biologically benign masses of mesenchymal origin consisting of adipocytes. This study reports benchmark data on the clinical management and outcomes of lipomas in dogs under UK primary veterinary care. The study used a cross-sectional analysis of cohort clinical data from dogs that were under veterinary care at pra...
Abstract Background Diabetes mellitus (DM) is an important endocrine disorder of dogs. The objectives of this study were to estimate prevalence and incidence of DM in dogs, and to explore risk factors for DM and the survival of DM cases in primary-care clinics in the UK. Results A case-control study nested in the cohort of dogs (n = 480,469) aged ≥...
We experiment with new methods for learning how related words are positioned relative to each other in word embedding spaces. Previous approaches learned constant vector offsets: vectors that point from source tokens to target tokens with an assumption that these offsets were parallel to each other. We show that the offsets between related tokens a...
Background:
Conditions affecting the elbow joint are a common cause of lameness in dogs. Primary-care veterinary clinical data are now recognised as a valuable research resource. Using data from the VetCompass Programme, this study aimed to report the frequency and risk factors for elbow joint disease in dogs under primary veterinary care in the U...
Background:
The Chihuahua, the world's smallest dog breed, is a popular breed in the UK today. The VetCompass™ Programme collates de-identified clinical records from primary-care veterinary practices in the UK for epidemiological research. This study aimed to characterise the demography, age at death and common disorders of Chihuahuas under primar...
Clinicians often include references to diseases in clinical notes, which have not been diagnosed in their patients. For some diseases terms, the majority of disease references written in the patient notes may not refer to true disease diagnosis. These references occur because clinicians often use their clinical notes to speculate about disease exis...
Background:
Clinical signs and consequences of Cushing's syndrome are likely to impact upon a dog's life. Quantification of this impact on a dog's health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) could contribute to optimized disease management.
Hypothesis/objectives:
To develop a novel HRQoL tool to aid assessment of dogs with Cushing's syndrome and to e...
In the original publication of this article [1], due to an error in a single count relating to the denominator used for this study, some of the derived values were wrong, so that abstract, plain English summary, results and Fig. 1 all need to be revised.
Background
The domestic rabbit is a common pet species, but limited research exists on the health of pet rabbits. This study aimed to characterise common disorders of pet rabbits and reasons for mortality as recorded by veterinary practices in England.
Methods
This cross-sectional study covered anonymised clinical records of 6349 rabbits attending...
Objectives:
To investigate association between neutering and early-onset urinary incontinence in bitches under primary veterinary care in the UK.
Materials and methods:
A retrospective cohort study of bitches within VetCompass born between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2012 that were followed until March 31, 2018. The clinical records were au...
Objectives:
To explore epidemiological features of demodicosis relevant to UK veterinary general practitioners. Breed risk factors were proposed as distinct between juvenile-onset and adult-onset disease.
Materials and methods:
The study used anonymised clinical data on dogs under primary veterinary care at practices enrolled in the UK VetCompas...
Background
Hyperadrenocorticism is an endocrine disease routinely encountered within primary care practice; however, few studies evaluating survival beyond diagnosis have studied this population.
Methods
This retrospective cohort study analysed the electronic patient records of 219 cases of hyperadrenocorticism from a sample of dogs attending prim...
Persian cats are a popular cat breed worldwide, and especially in the US, Europe and Asia. This study aimed to describe the demography, common disorders and mortality in Persians under general practice veterinary care in 2013 in the UK. The study population of 285,547 cats overall included 3235 (1.1%) Persians. Mean adult Persian bodyweight was 3.9...
Abstract Background The West Highland White Terrier (WHWT) is a relatively common breed in the UK, although Kennel Club registrations have declined in recent years. The VetCompass™ Programme collates de-identified clinical data from primary-care veterinary practices in the UK for epidemiological research. Using VetCompass clinical data, this study...
The Bulldog is a popular companion breed in the UK despite widely reported disease predispositions. This study aimed to characterise the demography, mortality and common disorders of Bulldogs under veterinary care in the UK during 2013. VetCompass collates anonymised clinical data from UK primary-care veterinary practices for epidemiological resear...
Abstract Background The greyhound is a sighthound known for its speed and agility. Greyhounds were selectively bred as functional racing animals but increasingly are kept as pets in the UK, often after their racing careers are over. The VetCompass™ Programme collates de-identified clinical data from primary-care veterinary practices in the UK for e...
Background
Evidence-based comparison of the disorder-specific welfare burdens of major canine conditions could better inform targeting of stakeholder resources, to maximise improvement of health-related welfare in UK dogs. Population-level disease related welfare impact offers a quantitative, welfare-centred framework for objective disorder priorit...
Glucocorticoids are widely used in primary care veterinary practices. The study aimed to quantify the usage of systemic glucocorticoids (SGC) in dogs in the UK using primary care treatment records recorded during 2013 in the VetCompass Programme. From a study population of 455 557 dogs, 28 472 dogs (6.2 per cent, 95 per cent CI 6.2 to 6.3) received...
Methods
A randomised non-blinded non-inferiority trial was conducted to determine whether treatment with an unfractionated regimen of oral prednisolone was inferior to a fractionated regimen for dogs with primary immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia. Dogs received the same total daily dose of prednisolone as unfractionated (group 1, starting at 4 mg/...
