Reproductive disorders among veterinary clinic presentations in Sokoto metropolis, Nigeria (2015-2025): A multi-clinic retrospective study

Abstract

Reproductive disorders are important causes of reduced fertility, production losses, treatment expenditure and compromised animal welfare. Although veterinary clinical records provide an accessible source of information on the reproductive caseload presented for professional care, clinic-based evidence from northern Nigeria remains limited, particularly across multiple facilities and animal species. This study described the distribution and pattern of reproductive presentations recorded at veterinary facilities in Sokoto metropolis over an 11-year period. A retrospective analysis was conducted on 1,000 de-identified clinical presentations recorded between 2015 and 2025 at Aliyu Jodi Clinic, Fakon Idi Clinic, Runjin Sambo Clinic, the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Veterinary Teaching Hospital and participating private practices. Variables extracted from the clinical records included clinic, visit date, species, sex, age, reproductive status, diagnosis, management system, treatment, hospitalization and outcome. Reproductive case status was defined from the recorded Case Type field and cross-checked against the diagnosis coding rule. Descriptive statistics, Pearson chi-square tests and multivariable logistic regression were used to examine the distribution of reproductive presentations and factors associated with reproductive case classification. Of the 1,000 presentations, 265 (26.5%; 95% CI 23.9-29.4%) were classified as reproductive. The most frequent reproductive diagnoses were dystocia (34/265; 12.8%), abortion (32/265; 12.1%), mastitis classified as reproductive/peripartum (32/265; 12.1%), other reproductive infections or conditions (29/265; 10.9%), metritis (28/265; 10.6%) and ovarian cysts (25/265; 9.4%). Female presentations had a higher reproductive-case proportion than male presentations (30.9% versus 21.1%; χ²=11.70, P<0.001), and the adjusted odds of reproductive-case classification were lower for males than females (OR=0.60, 95% CI 0.45–0.80; P<0.001). Species, clinic, season, management system and year were not statistically associated with reproductive case status. Among reproductive presentations, 195/265 (73.6%) were recorded as recovered or improved, whereas 31/265 (11.7%) died or were euthanized and 39/265 (14.7%) were referred or lost to follow-up. The findings describe the reproductive component of the recorded veterinary clinical caseload rather than population-level disease prevalence. The study provides a contemporary multi-clinic description of reproductive presentations in Sokoto and extends earlier single-facility observations from the metropolis, while also highlighting the limitations of routine clinical records for estimating population burden.