OBJECTIVE To define a frailty-related phenotype-a clinical syndrome associated with the aging process in humans-in aged dogs and to investigate its association with time to death. ANIMALS 116 aged guide dogs. PROCEDURES Dogs underwent a clinical geriatric assessment (CGA) and were followed to either time of death or the study cutoff date. A 5-component clinical definition of a frailty phenotype was derived from clinical items included in a geriatric health evaluation scoresheet completed by veterinarians during the CGA. Univariate (via Kaplan-Meier curves) and multivariate (via Cox proportional hazards models) survival analyses were used to investigate associations of the 5 CGA components with time to death. RESULTS 76 dogs died, and the median time from CGA to death was 4.4 years. Independent of age at the time of CGA, dogs that had ≥ 2 of the 5 components (n = 10) were more likely to die during the follow-up period, compared with those that had 1 or no components (adjusted hazard ratio, 3.9 [95% confidence interval, 1.4 to 10.9]). After further adjustments for subclinical or clinical diseases and routine biomarkers, the adjusted hazard ratio remained significant. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results indicated that signs of frailty appeared to be a risk factor for death in dogs. The concept of frailty in dogs requires further development. IMPACT FOR HUMAN MEDICINE The concept of frailty, as defined for humans, seems transposable to dogs. Given that they share humans' environments and develop several age-related diseases similar to those in humans, dogs may be useful for the study of environmental or age-related risk factors for frailty in humans.
Frailty is a clinical presentation resulting from age-related cumulative declines in several physiological systems. The aim of this study was to adapt the concept of frailty to the domestic dog, as a model for frailty research, by characterizing a 5-criterion frailty phenotype using objective measurement, and to investigate its independent association with death. A prospective cohort including 80 Labrador and Golden Retriever dogs aged 9 years or older was conducted between March 2015 and July 2020. An adapted frailty phenotype was defined according to the presence of five criteria (weakness, slowness, poor endurance, low physical activity, and shrinking) evaluated at baseline from physical performance tests and items from questionnaire and physical examination. Survival analysis was used to investigate the association between frailty status and time to all-cause death over 5 years of follow-up. Frailty status was significantly associated with all-cause death, with median survival times of 10.5 months, 35.4 months, and 42.5 months, respectively for dogs with three or more criteria (frail dogs), dogs with one or two criteria (prefrail dogs), and nonfrail dogs. Independently of age, sex, breed, sterilization and sex-sterilization interaction, frail dogs died significantly faster than nonfrail dogs at baseline (adjusted hazard ratio = 5.86; 95% confidence interval = 2.45-14.0; p < 0.01). This significant association persisted after controlling for other potential confounders. Frailty, assessed by a 5-criterion phenotype, was predictive of all-cause death, in geriatric Labrador and Golden Retriever dogs. The concept of frailty seems adaptable to the dog.
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