Epidemiological case-control study of the outbreak of acquired Megaesophagus in Latvian dogs | Latvijas suņu iegūtā Megaesophagus uzliesmojuma epidemioloģiskais gadījumu-kontroles pētījums
2017
Lusis, I., Latvia Univ. of Agriculture, Jelgava (Latvia). Faculty of Veterinary Medicine | Konopore, L., Hīrons, SIA, Riga (Latvia) | Matise-VanHoutan, I., Matīses Veterinārās patoloģijas serviss, IK, Alejas, Kekava parish, Kekava Municipality (Latvia) | Viltrop, A., Estonian Univ. of Life Sciences, Tartu (Estonia). Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science
Unusual increase in a number of dogs with acquired megaesophagus (ME) raised concern about outbreak in 2015. Preliminary survey indicated correlation between disease and dry dog food of brand A (food A). Therefore case-control study was designed with goals (1) to estimate the strength of association between ME and consumption of food A during 12 months prior to diagnosis; (2) to identify effects of other feeding-, housing- and management-related factors and prophylactic treatments on development of ME. Cases were dogs with x-ray confirmed ME diagnosed between May and December 2015. Controls comprised dogs without ME selected by simple random procedure in veterinary clinics according to inclusion and exclusion criteria between 50 April and June 2016. Questionnaires from 64 cases were compared to 123 controls and analysed using multivariable logistic regression. For cases the odds to be fed exclusively food A were 356 (95% CI 63…2020) times higher compared to control dogs indicating very strong association between food A and morbidity with ME. Dogs fed food A along with other foods had 81 (95% CI 14…468) times higher odds of being a ME case indicating a dose effect in ME development. Cases vs. controls on average were larger dogs (38.3kg±2.2kg vs. 29.3kg±1.78kg) and had higher proportion of male-dogs (71.9% vs. 48.0%). There was lack of direct association between prophylactic treatments and outcome. Case-control study shows strong association between dry dog food A and ME; risk was lower but still significant for the dogs fed food A in combination with other foods.
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