Analysis of risk factors for gastric dilatation and dilatation-volvulus in dogs

Abstract

Summary The Veterinary Medical Data Base was used to conduct an epidemiologic study of gastric dilatation and dilatation-volvulus (gdv) to describe changes over time in frequency of canine hospital admissions, to identify risk factors, and to estimate their relative importance. Cases in this case-control study included 1,934 dogs with gdv that were admitted to 12 participating veterinary hospitals from 1980 to 1989. The controls were 3,868 dogs with other diagnoses that were randomly selected from the same hospitals. Frequency of gdv per 1,000 canine hospital admissions ranged from 2.9 to 6.8. The case fatality rate was 28.6 and 33.3% for gastric dilatation alone and for gastric dilatation with volvulus, respectively. Using logistic regression analysis, the odds ratio (or) and its 95% confidence limits (95% cl) for gdv associated with purebred vs mixed-breed dogs were 2.5 and 2.1, 3.0, respectively. The risk of gdv was associated with increasing age (Χ2 = 305.6, P < 0.0001) and increasing weight (Χ2 = 627.8, P < 0.0001). Significant association of gdv risk with sex or neuter status was not found. The 5 breeds having at least 10 cases and 8 controls and with the highest risk of gdv were Great Dane (or, 10.0; 95% cl, 6.4, 15.6), Weimaraner (or, 4.6; 95% cl, 2.3, 9.2), Saint Bernard (or, 4.2; 95% cl, 2.3, 7.4), Gordon Setter (or, 4.1; 95% cl, 1.8, 9.3), and Irish Setter (or, 3.5; 95% cl, 2.4, 5.0). The effect of increasing body weight on gdv risk was less than that of increasing ideal adult breed weight, determined by published breed standards. There was considerable heterogeneity of gdv risk for individual breeds within ideal adult breed-weight groups. The overall pattern of risk was suggestive that, in addition to age, body weight, and neuter status, a dog's body (thoracic) conformation also was an important determinant of susceptibility to gdv.