Evaluation of Four Clinical Metrology Instruments for the Assessment of Osteoarthritis in Dogs

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Osteoarthritis is a very common joint disease in dogs. For that reason, it is important to have validated owner questionnaires to assess patients and response to eventual treatments. For dogs, several questionnaires exist, with a growing interest on their validation. We aimed to evaluate four of them and determine their ability to evaluate pain and patient outcome. The questionnaires we evaluated can be used for the evaluation of osteoarthritis and response to treatment in dogs. ABSTRACT: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most commonly diagnosed joint disease in companion animals, and proper tools are necessary to assess patients and response to treatment. We aimed to perform the psychometric evaluation of several clinical metrology instruments (CMI), developed to evaluate pain and assess outcome. Fifty police working dogs with bilateral hip OA were assessed in a prospective, randomised, double-blinded study. Patients were evaluated using a stance analyser in six different moments divided over a 180-day period. Pedometer step count, weight-bearing symmetry index and deviation from normal weight-bearing were calculated and used for criterion validity. In each evaluation moment, a copy of the Hudson Visual Analogue Scale (HVAS), Canine Brief Pain Inventory (CBPI), Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs (LOAD) and Canine Orthopaedic Index (COI) were completed by the dogs’ handlers. Correlations between CMIs were evaluated as construct validity. Further evaluation was performed with the Kaiser–Meyer–Olin measure of sampling adequacy, Eigenvalue and scree-plot analysis. Internal consistency was tested with Cronbach’s α. Significant weak correlation was found between all CMIs and stance analysis symmetry index measure and deviation, indicating criterion validity. Significant weak correlation was also found between pedometer count and LOAD plus COI. Cronbach’s α was 0.80 for HVAS, 0.98 for CBPI, 0.97 for LOAD and 0.98 for COI. Significant strong correlation was observed between CMIs, indicating construct validity. We present criterion and construct validity of these CMIs, which are able to capture various dimensions of OA. They can be used for the evaluation of osteoarthritis and response to treatment in dogs.