Largest-ever study identifies dogs most at risk of developing Cushing’s syndrome

The largest-ever study into the prevalence and risk factors of Cushing’s syndrome in dogs has identified seven breeds as being at greater risk from the disease.

Published in the latest issue of the Journal of Small Animal Practice (JSAP),  the study identified the border terrier, Staffordshire bull terrier, bichon frise, miniature schnauzer, Lhasa apso, Yorkshire terrier and Jack Russell terrier as being at increased risk when compared to cross-breed dogs in the UK primary-practice population.

VetCompass

The study, “Frequency and risk factors for naturally occurring Cushing’s syndrome in dogs attending UK primary-care practices”, identified dogs with Cushing’s syndrome from the electronic patient records of practices participating in the UK VetCompass programme during 2016.

Both pre-existing and incident cases of Cushing’s syndrome during 2016 were included to estimate the one-year period prevalence.

Available demographic data for study dogs included date of birth, sex, neuter status, breed and mean lifetime bodyweight above 18 months, while multivariable binary logistic regression modelling was used to assess the associations between risk factors and Cushing’s syndrome.

Weight factor

A total of 1,527 Cushing’s syndrome cases were identified in the study, from a population of 905,544 dogs in 2016, and the estimated one-year period prevalence for the syndrome in dogs was 0.17%.

There were four breeds identified as having a decreased risk: the golden retriever, Labrador retriever, border collie and cocker spaniel.

In addition, dogs with a bodyweight higher than their breed-sex mean had 1.44 times the odds of Cushing’s syndrome than those within their breed mean, suggesting either overweight dogs or larger examples of the breed are at increased risk of the condition.

Risk factors

Nicola Di Girolamo, editor of JSAP, said: “When we look at risk factor analysis in previous studies, the generalisability of their findings to the general population of dogs in the UK have typically been limited due to studying dogs from referral populations or due to a lack of multivariable analysis.

“The findings of this study help to address that knowledge gap, supporting some of the risk factors previously reported, and by identifying novel associations, such as that in the border terrier.

“Awareness of breeds with high or low risk could help to enhance the index of suspicion for veterinary surgeons working in primary-care practice where Cushing’s syndrome is predominantly diagnosed and managed.”