Diabetes alert dogs: a narrative critical overview

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Medicine
• Endocrinology
• Animal Behavior

Background:

• Dogs possess exceptional olfactory capabilities and a strong bond with humans, leading to diverse assistance roles.
• Beyond traditional uses, dogs are increasingly employed in detection tasks, including volatile organic compounds and medical conditions.
• Recent focus highlights dogs' potential in detecting blood glucose variations in individuals with diabetes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy and limitations of diabetes alerting dogs (DADs) in managing blood glucose levels.
• To review the current scientific literature on DADs' performance in detecting hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of scientific literature on diabetes alerting dogs.
• Analysis of reported sensitivities and specificities for DADs in detecting hypo- and hyperglycemia.

Main Results:

• Diabetes alerting dogs exhibit heterogeneous efficiency, with reported sensitivities ranging from 0.29-0.80 and specificities from 0.49-0.96.
• While DADs can improve the quality of life for diabetic patients, significant drawbacks exist.
• Limitations include high costs, lack of provider accreditation, inconsistent training, high variability among dogs, and challenges in owner recognition of alerts.

Conclusions:

• Diabetes alerting dogs show promise but require standardized training and quality assessment to overcome current limitations.
• Addressing variability in breed, training, and alert behaviors is crucial for enhancing DAD effectiveness.
• Further research and standardization are needed to optimize DADs as reliable tools for diabetes management.