ArticlePloS one2026
Use of Kaplan-Meier and Cox regressions in the distribution of length of stay in animal shelters for pre-specified calendar periods: Definition, computation, and examples of dog length of stay in orange county California.
Article in PloS one, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Shelter Dog Census Changes Track Intakes but Resolve Slowly via Outcomes and Especially Adoptions.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Marketing of Slow-Track Rather than Fast-Track Animals Reduces Mean Length of Stay and Animal Shelter Census Count: A Theoretical Study.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Computations of length of stay in animal shelters rely on fixed animal cohorts. This is appropriate for research studies that pre-select cohorts, but it is problematic for operational assessments of animal shelters in fixed calendar periods or for comparisons among periods or shelters. Considering only the length of stay of animals whose stay ended within the study period leads to misinterpretation. The use of the Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards methods with left-truncation and right-censoring is proposed to correctly account for all animals present in the shelter for any fraction of a study period, including those that were present at the beginning and those that remain in care at the end of the period. Examples of dog length of stay in Orange County Animal Care in California show that this computation method corrects the misleading view of historically used calculations of length of stay. Statistically significant changes in length of stay are observed in 8 out of 23 quarterly periods. In a comparison of length of stay before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the observed significant change in length of stay cannot be explained by variations in sizes and ages of incoming dogs and may be connected to operational policies that restricted visitor access. The proposed approach enables timely tracking of length of stay, accurate comparisons, and assessment of shelter practices and resource needs.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.