Canine companions are indicators of human health, but more canine data is needed

In a Perspective, Courtney Sexton and Audrey Ruple discuss how companion animals, especially dogs, are distinctly positioned to be sentinels of human health due to the environments they and humans closely share, but, say the authors, systems for improving data capture around dogs’ environments are critically needed. Humans share their environments closely with companion animals, leading to similar health risks such as respiratory illnesses, cancers, and cognitive dysfunction. Dogs, having cohabitated with humans for about 30,000 years, are particularly well-suited as sentinels for human health. Their shorter lifespan allows researchers to observe the effects of environmental exposures more rapidly than could be seen in humans. And socioeconomic determinants of health in dogs – companionship and social support, access to care, and household income, for example – closely mirror those in humans. Here, Sexton and Ruple highlight several ways in which monitoring such data in dogs could serve as a useful tool in evaluating health in humans. However, while a growing body of research supports the validity of this approach, a system for capturing the capacities in which dogs are representative of the environmental influences on human experiences is needed. Current practices in veterinary studies include only the basic demographics of study dogs. The authors suggest that incorporating this data with detailed owner demographics and linking geocoded environmental data could enhance understanding. “Veterinary medicine is currently moving toward widespread adoption of common data models that standardize collection and preparation of electronic health records to support longitudinal investigations of health risks and outcomes,” write Sexton and Ruple. “Incorporating dog owner demographic variables in these models is critical to developing One Health research infrastructure that bridges the species divide, to the benefit of both people and companion animal sentinels themselves.”