Lifetime age-related changes in clinical laboratory results, aging clocks and mortality predictors in 2412 Golden Retrievers

Abstract

In this study, we investigated age-related changes in clinical laboratory data and their association with mortality in dogs from the Golden Retriever Lifetime Study. By analyzing complete blood count (CBC) and biochemistry data from 2′412 Golden Retrievers over 16,678 visits, we observed significant changes during the first 2 years of life and throughout aging. Based on these observations, we developed a biological aging clock using a LASSO model to predict age based on blood markers, achieving an accuracy of R = 0.78. Although the biological age clock and pace of aging did not significantly improve mortality prediction, a model incorporating all blood biomarkers showed better predictive power for lifetime (C-index = 0.763) and 1-year mortality (AUC = 0.817). Our findings underscore the importance of comprehensive blood analysis for aging and mortality prediction in dogs and open the door for the development of novel methods to investigate aging in companion animals.