https://doi.org/10.4081/ijfs.2025.13402
Incidence rates of tumors in dogs in southern Italy – focus on the Campania region – 2018/2022
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Published: 10 July 2025
Neoplastic disease in dogs and humans has many similarities, including similar clinical manifestations, metastatic potential, and genomic instability. However, tumor latency is shorter in dogs, which may serve as a sentinel for the identification of carcinogenic environmental exposures. This study aims to describe the data collected in the Animal Tumor Registry (RTA) of the Campania Region in the period 2018-2022, with particular attention to the incidence rates of malignant tumors in dogs, divided by province. RTA tumor cases received by the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno were analyzed; out of a total of 885 tumors, 70% were malignant, with a higher frequency in female dogs. The crude and standardized incidence rate of malignant tumors in dogs was calculated on a provincial basis. Caserta showed the highest incidence rate for both malignant tumors [incidence rate: 135.07 per 100,000; 95% confidence interval (CI): 135.01-135.13] and mammary tumors (incidence rate: 52.75 per 100,000; 95% CI: 52.69-52.80). The results highlight the importance of tumor monitoring in dogs as an indicator of potential environmental risk factors and underline the value of the RTA for the collection of data useful for the prevention and study of neoplastic diseases, as well as in humans.
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