{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,6]],"date-time":"2026-04-06T20:15:02Z","timestamp":1775506502250,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,23]],"date-time":"2024-07-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1721692800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study aimed to provide a comprehensive picture of the life expectancy of dogs in Portugal, focusing on the impact of diverse factors including breed, sex, size, and skull shape. The final dataset, gathering data from the national registry database, consisted of 278,116 dogs with confirmed deaths. The mean lifespan at birth for all the dogs was around 8.91 years, with the female dogs tended to have a similar lifespan to male dogs. The analysis of life expectancy at birth for the 20 most common non-Portuguese breeds and 10 Portuguese breeds revealed that Yorkshire Terriers had the highest life expectancy (10.89 years) and French Bulldogs the lowest (6.27 years). Size and cephalic index were found to be influential factors, with large brachycephalic breeds exhibiting shorter life expectancies and smaller, mesocephalic breeds experiencing longer lifespans. Additionally, the cephalic index had a more substantial impact on life expectancy compared to body size. These findings enhance the understanding of the factors influencing canine longevity and aid in developing strategies to improve the health and lifespan of companion dogs.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani14152141","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,23]],"date-time":"2024-07-23T14:26:50Z","timestamp":1721744810000},"page":"2141","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Investigating the Life Expectancy at Birth of Companion Dogs in Portugal Using Official National Registry Data"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-4794-9426","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Helena","family":"Geraz","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Ci\u00eancias Biom\u00e9dicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Departamento de Ci\u00eancias da Sa\u00fade P\u00fablica e Forenses e Educa\u00e7\u00e3o M\u00e9dica, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Alameda Professor Hern\u00e2ni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0870-6281","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Katia","family":"Pinello","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Ci\u00eancias Biom\u00e9dicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"EPIUnit-Instituto de Sa\u00fade P\u00fablica, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Taipas 135, 4050-600 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Vet-OncoNet, Departamento de Estudo de Popula\u00e7\u00f5es, Instituto de Ci\u00eancias Biom\u00e9dicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4835-8944","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Denisa","family":"Mendon\u00e7a","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Ci\u00eancias Biom\u00e9dicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"EPIUnit-Instituto de Sa\u00fade P\u00fablica, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Taipas 135, 4050-600 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Milton","family":"Severo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"EPIUnit-Instituto de Sa\u00fade P\u00fablica, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Taipas 135, 4050-600 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6413-1056","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jo\u00e3o","family":"Niza-Ribeiro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Ci\u00eancias Biom\u00e9dicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"EPIUnit-Instituto de Sa\u00fade P\u00fablica, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Taipas 135, 4050-600 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Vet-OncoNet, Departamento de Estudo de Popula\u00e7\u00f5es, Instituto de Ci\u00eancias Biom\u00e9dicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e12737","DOI":"10.1111\/acel.12737","article-title":"The Companion Dog as a Model for Human Aging and Mortality","volume":"17","author":"Hoffman","year":"2018","journal-title":"Aging Cell"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"210","DOI":"10.1016\/j.prevetmed.2015.03.018","article-title":"A Current Life Table and Causes of Death for Insured Dogs in Japan","volume":"120","author":"Inoue","year":"2015","journal-title":"Prev. 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