Social and environmental predictors for dog bites in Wales: A retrospective study.

Abstract

Dog bites are a significant burden on the individual and NHS. This study aimed to identify social and environmental predictors to aid treatment, planning and prevention. Data were collected for all incidences of people bitten/struck by dogs in Wales from April 2018 to March 2023, including age, sex, location, and socioeconomic status. Archived meteorological data for Wales was analysed, including maximum daily temperature, humidity, pressure and lunar phase. Finally, weekday/weekend, school holidays, season and COVID restrictions were also included as potential predictors. Overall, 3167 bites were identified (mean age = 40.2 years; 52.9% female). Poisson regression, ANOVA and Chi-squared tests were used to analyse different variables. An increase in dog bites was observed on weekends vs weekdays (p=0.033), during school holidays (p<0.001), on days with higher temperatures (p<0.001), when there were no COVID restrictions (p<0.001), post-COVID (p<0.001) and in summer vs winter and spring (p=0.015, p<0.001). Primary school children were more likely to be bitten in the most deprived areas (p<0.001), densely populated areas (p=0.002), and summer months (p<0.001). These findings suggest that public health campaigns aimed at awareness surrounding the higher risk of dog bites in socially deprived areas, on warmer days, school holidays, on weekends and during the summer may help to reduce the burden of dog bites in Wales.