Objective:

To examine the association between plasma metabolites in dogs and all-cause mortality.

Approach:

• Study Design: A longitudinal analysis from the Dog Aging Project involving 937 companion dogs.
• Metabolite Analysis: 133 plasma metabolites were analyzed, adjusting for age, sex, weight, creatinine, and genetic relatedness.
• Follow-Up: Average follow-up duration was 2.6 years, with 104 dogs dying during this period.
• Comparison with Human Studies: Mortality associations for overlapping metabolites were compared with 5 independent human studies.

Key Findings:

• 17% of metabolites were associated with all-cause mortality in dogs.
• 23 metabolites met the statistical significance threshold.
• 64% agreement in mortality associations for overlapping metabolites between dogs and humans.
• Higher levels of pseudouridine, N2, N2-dimethylguanosine, and homocitrulline, and lower levels of deoxycarnitine and homoarginine were linked to mortality in both species.

Interpretation:

The findings indicate that dogs share biochemical markers of mortality with humans.

Limitations:

• The study is limited to companion dogs and may not generalize to other species.
• The follow-up period is shorter compared to human studies.

Conclusion:

Dogs may provide insights into mortality markers relevant to both species.

Sources:

• The Journals of Gerontology