MUNICH/GERMANY, June 28th (Biermann) – A German research team under lead investigator Dr. Gerhard Wess from the Clinic of Small Animal Medicine at the Ludwig Maximillian University in Munich, Germany, evaluated the prevalence of DCM in Dobermans of various age groups in a prospective longitudinal cohort study.

For this, they looked at a total of 412 Doberman Pinschers in 775 examinations. Each examination included echocardiography and a 24-hour ECG (Holter). Cardiomyopathy was defined as a value of >100 ventricular premature contractions (VPCs) per 24 hours on Holter or an abnormal echocardiographic finding. The cumulative prevalence included all dogs with DCM and healthy dogs >7 years of age, the authors write in the Journal of Veterinary Medicine.

Their results show that DCM prevalence was very common, especially in older dogs. Among very young dogs (1 to <2 years) the prevalence was 3.3 percent, in young adult dogs (2 to <4 years) it was 9.9 percent, in adult dogs (4 to <6 years) it was 12.5 percent, in older dogs (6 to <8 years="" it="" suddenly="" climbed="" up="" to="" 436="" percent="" and="" in="" the="" oldest="" age="" group="">8 years), the prevalence was 44.1 percent. The cumulative prevalence of cardiomyopathy in Doberman Pinschers was 58.2 percent. The researchers observed an equal sex distribution, however, male dogs showed earlier echocardiographic changes than female dogs, which possessed significantly more VPCs.


The DCM prevalence in Doberman Pinschers seem to be very high. Disease manifestion and progression seem to be different between male and female dogs, Dr. Wess and his associates write. Thus, they highly recommend yearly DCM screening by Holter examination and echocardiography, beginning at two years of age.

References

• J Vet Int Med 24(3):533-538