HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

Electronic Letters to:

RESEARCH AND PRACTICE: Katherine A. Feldman, Roger Trent, and Michele T. Jay Epidemiology of Hospitalizations Resulting From Dog Bites in California, 1991–1998 Am J Public Health 2004; 94: 1940-1941 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

eLetters: Submit a response to this article

Electronic letters published:

Some issues for dog control?

Phil Mackie   (23 December 2004)

Some issues for dog control? 23 December 2004
Phil Mackie, Snr Specialist in Public Health Lothian NHS Board Send letter to journal: Re: Some issues for dog control? phil.mackie{at}lhb.scot.nhs.uk Phil Mackie	The article from Feldman, Trent and Day on the epidemiology of dog bite in California (Am J Pub Health 2004:94(11),1940-41)illustrates three interesting issues in descriptive epidemiologic studies. The first is the issue associated with the use (or lack of use)of an adequate severity threshold as part of the case definition. Whilst the recording of "dog bite" as an E-code is manditory in California, without an adequate severity indicator we are not able to determine whether or not all the cases admitted were of equal severity for injury and consequent morbidity. Equally, we do not know what cases of equal severity were seen in the ER (or in an other healthcare facility) and not hospitalised. This may affect the accuracy of the data presented. The second issue relates to the use of ethnicity data. Given the health disparities in accessing healthcare associated with ethnicity, is the use of hospitalisation data to describe the relationship between ethnicity and dog biting appropriate? Without adjusting for access by ethnicity, these data are difficult to interpret. Finally there is the issue of appropriate denominators. Population based denominators for dog bite are clearly needed: but which ones? Human or dog? Using the human population is only part of the picture. The knowing the population of dogs to do the biting is also needed to be able to quantify the risk of being bitten. I agree with the conclusions reached by the authors that dog bite is a public health problem and more should be done to provide adequate interventions to control the problem. However, I might have preferred that some other (epidemiologic) controls had also been used.