Wisnieski Lauren, Faulkner Vina, Faulkner Charles
Richard A. Gillespie College of Veterinary Medicine, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN, United States.
Front Vet Sci. 2023 Jun 9;10:1208804. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1208804. eCollection 2023.
Heartworm disease is preventable with use of heartworm preventatives, but the reported prevalence of heartworm preventative use in the United States is low, some estimates falling around 50% of dogs. However, there are very few estimates of prevalence and its associated factors.
We aimed to estimate prevalence and evaluate factors, including vaccination status, demographics, lifestyle, physical conditions, medications and supplements, and environment and living conditions, for their association with heartworm preventative use in a large dataset from the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study ( = 2,998). Due to the large number of predictors evaluated, we built a bootstrapped elastic net logistic regression model, which is robust to overfitting and multicollinearity. Variables were evaluated by calculating covariate stability (>80%) and statistical significance (<0.02).
In our sample, the prevalence of heartworm use was 39.5%. In our elastic net model, receiving vaccinations (rabies, Bordetella, or any other vaccine), being located in the Southern U.S., being altered, having an infectious disease or ear/ nose/throat system disease diagnosis, being on heartworm preventatives in the past, currently being on tick preventative, having sun exposure in an area with concrete flooring, living in a house with more rooms with carpeted floors, and spending time on hardwood flooring inside were associated with greater odds of heartworm preventative use. Supplementation use and being in the top quartile of height were associated with lower odds of heartworm preventative use.
The explanatory factors we identified can be used to improve client communication. In addition, target populations for educational interventions and outreach can be identified. Future studies can validate the findings in a more diverse population of dogs.
使用心丝虫预防剂可预防心丝虫病，但据报道，美国心丝虫预防剂的使用普及率较低，一些估计显示约50%的犬只使用过。然而，关于普及率及其相关因素的估计却非常少。
我们旨在从金毛猎犬终身研究的一个大型数据集中（n = 2998）估计心丝虫预防剂的普及率，并评估包括疫苗接种状况、人口统计学特征、生活方式、身体状况、药物和补充剂以及环境和生活条件等因素与心丝虫预防剂使用之间的关联。由于评估的预测变量数量众多，我们构建了一个自抽样弹性网络逻辑回归模型，该模型对过度拟合和多重共线性具有鲁棒性。通过计算协变量稳定性（>80%）和统计显著性（<0.02）来评估变量。
在我们的样本中，心丝虫预防剂的使用率为39.5%。在我们的弹性网络模型中，接种疫苗（狂犬病、博德特氏菌或任何其他疫苗）、位于美国南部、已绝育、有传染病或耳/鼻/喉系统疾病诊断、过去使用过心丝虫预防剂、目前使用蜱虫预防剂、在有混凝土地面的区域有阳光照射、居住在有更多铺有地毯房间的房屋中以及在室内硬木地板上活动与心丝虫预防剂使用的较高几率相关。使用补充剂和身高处于前四分位数与心丝虫预防剂使用的较低几率相关。
我们确定的解释性因素可用于改善与客户的沟通。此外，还可确定教育干预和外展的目标人群。未来的研究可以在更多样化的犬只群体中验证这些发现。
