Dog Aging Project (DAP) long-term longitudinal study of ageing in companion dogs
The Dog Aging Project is a long-term, open-data longitudinal study of ageing in tens of thousands of privately owned companion dogs of all breeds, ages, sizes and sexes across the USA, with over 30,000 participants at the time of the 2022 design paper. It collects survey, environmental, veterinary-record, genome-sequence, clinicopathology and molecular data annually for the dog's lifetime, aiming to identify genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors associated with healthy lifespan and to characterize multimorbidity, frailty and inflammageing. The project comprises five overlapping cohorts, including the TRIAD rapamycin trial and the Precision cohort, which are recorded separately; no results are reported in the design paper.
Record
| Design | longitudinal cohort |
|---|---|
| Status | ongoing |
| Setting | client owned |
| Intervention class | none |
| Duration | Long-term; data and biospecimens collected annually, with dogs enrolled for the dog's lifetime |
| Dogs | 30,000 |
| Population note | Over 30,000 canine participants and their owners at the time of the 2022 design paper, described as tens of thousands of companion dogs; five overlapping cohorts (Pack, Foundation, Precision, TRIAD and a cross-sectional Centenarian sample) |
| Breed | All breeds (both purebred and mixed breed) |
| Age | All ages |
| Other | All sizes and sexes (intact and sterilized); privately owned dogs; participation open to all geographical regions in the USA |
| Primary outcome | Identify the genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors associated with healthy lifespan; characterize ageing on multimorbidity, frailty and inflammageing; whole-genome sequencing of at least 10,000 dogs; metabolome, epigenome and microbiome biomarkers of ageing |
| Sponsor or funder | National Institute on Aging (NIA U19 AG057377), as cited in the funding statement of the 2023 Texas A&M rapamycin trial |
| Tags | cohort, dog-aging-project, open-data, longitudinal, biomarkers, genomics |
Notes: Design paper. The TRIAD randomized trial (triad-rapamycin) and the Precision cohort (dog-aging-project-precision-cohort) are recorded separately. The lead institution is not named in the sources (more than 20 academic institutions participate); the NIA grant number is quoted from another paper's funding statement. Data are released on the Terra platform under a data use agreement.
Sources and verbatim quotes
An open science study of ageing in companion dogs. (2022) PMID 35110758 (design)
The Dog Aging Project is a long-term longitudinal study of ageing in tens of thousands of companion dogs.
they offer a unique opportunity to identify the genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors associated with healthy lifespan
the Dog Aging Project will collect extensive survey data, environmental information, electronic veterinary medical records, genome-wide sequence information, clinicopathology and molecular phenotypes derived from blood cells, plasma and faecal samples
An open science study of ageing in companion dogs. (2022) PMID 35110758 (design)
along with over 30,000 canine participants and their owners
The DAP includes observational studies, combining both retrospective cross-sectional and prospective longitudinal data, as well as a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial for healthy ageing. Data and biospecimens will be collected annually and made available as a public resource.
The target study population consists of dogs of all breeds (both purebred and mixed breed), ages, sizes and sexes (males and females, intact and sterilized).
Structurally, the DAP can be considered as five overlapping cohorts or groups of dogs
Once enrolled, dogs are members of the Pack for the dog’s lifetime, unless the owner chooses to withdraw.
The sampled cohorts include Foundation, Precision and TRIAD (Test of Rapamycin In Ageing Dogs), as well as a cross-sectional sample of extremely old ‘Centenarian’ dogs
Currently, participation in the DAP is open to all geographical regions in the USA
The DAP has four primary scientific aims. These include (1) characterizing ageing in companion dogs on three separate axes: multimorbidity, frailty and inflammageing; (2) using low-coverage whole-genome sequencing with imputation on at least 10,000 dogs to analyse the genetic architecture of age-related traits in dogs; (3) collecting metabolome, epigenome and microbiome profiles to develop biomarkers of ageing in dogs
As this is a community science project and all study subjects are privately owned dogs
Our goal is that the DAP continues indefinitely
Access to Terra will be provided to users once they sign the DAP data use agreement
A masked, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial evaluating safety and the effect on cardiac function of low-dose rapamycin in 17 healthy client-owned dogs. (2023) PMID 37275618 (related)
Additional support for some authors was provided by the Dog Aging Project (NIA U19 AG057377
Reproduce: canine_trial_search(trial_id="dog-aging-project") in dog-geroscience-mcp; dataset canine-trial-registry.