Seasonality and risk factors for grass seed foreign bodies in dogs

Brant, Bethaney J ORCID: 0000-0003-1153-5054, Singleton, David A ORCID: 0000-0002-1980-5410, Noble, PJM ORCID: 0000-0002-2275-2014 and Radford, Alan D ORCID: 0000-0002-4590-1334 (2021) Seasonality and risk factors for grass seed foreign bodies in dogs Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 197. p. 105499. ISSN 0167-5877, 1873-1716

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Abstract

Grass seed foreign bodies (GSFBs) are a familiar presentation, especially in dogs, associated with a variety of clinical signs depending on site of penetration and extent of migration. Seasonality and risk factors for GSFB occurrence were investigated using electronic health records from a sentinel voluntary network of 245 veterinary practices in the United Kingdom between 17th March 2014 and 18th September 2020. Clinical narrative text mining of 4,580,503 canine consultations produced a final case dataset of 1,037 consultations where GSFBs had been recorded in individual dogs. Cases of GSFBs were recorded in all months, with 940 (90.6 %) recorded between June and September. In particular, the odds of GSFBs in July was almost 176 times more than that of January (Odds ratio, OR, 175.6, 95 % Confidence interval, CI, 43.5–707.7, P < 0.001). Compared to the retriever breed type, spaniel breed types were 7.7 times more likely to present with a GSFB (CI 5.4–11.0, P < 0.001). Other significant risk factors associated with recorded GSFBs for this population included being male (OR = 1.4, CI 1.2–1.6, P < 0.001), and geographical location. When compared to the South East of England, risk was lowest in Wales (OR = 0.1, CI 0.0−0.3, P=<0.001), and highest in the East of England (OR = 1.9, 1.2–2.9, P = 0.003), and overall risk in urban areas was reduced (OR = 0.8, CI 0.7–1.0, P = 0.024). These observations provide a number of areas for temporally targeted health campaigns at specific types of dogs, to reduce the impact of GSFBs on canine welfare.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Grass seeds, Canine, Epidemiology, Seasonality, Informatics, Text mining
Divisions:	Faculty of Health & Life Sciences Faculty of Health & Life Sciences > Inst. Infection, Vet & Ecological Sciences
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	01 Nov 2021 09:11
Last Modified:	01 Mar 2026 11:06
DOI:	10.1016/j.prevetmed.2021.105499
Related Websites:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3142343
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