Análisis retrospectivo de factores predisponentes a cardiopatías en caninos domésticos atendidos en el hospital veterinario Pet Care

Abstract

The current diet and environmental conditions in which pets are raised and maintained can directly or indirectly affect their health. Although pets, especially dogs, have a longer life expectancy, there are conditions in which their health can be compromised. Organic diseases have become very important among the pathologies in dogs, and among these, cardiopathies have casuistically represented a worrying process. In this retrospective study conducted at the Pet Care Veterinary Hospital in the city of Ambato, we focused on analyzing the variables sex, age, breed and weight and how they act in the predisposition to the various heart diseases that canine patients attended between 2017 and 2022 could suffer. By reviewing the medical records, the patients were identified and categorized according to the variables weight, age, sex and breed. In the methodology, a discriminatory observational study of convenience was used, using only the histories that met the requirements established for the study, thus identifying the prevalence of heart disease, and a chi-square analysis was used to compare the variables with the incidence of the pathologies found. The results showed that out of a total of 1776 canine patients seen during the study period, 112 were diagnosed with heart disease, representing 6.31% of the total; of these 112 patients, 92.86% had acquired heart disease and the remaining 7.14% had congenital heart disease. According to each of the research variables, it was found that there was a higher prevalence of heart disease in male patients (61.61%), older than 7 years (77.68%) and weighing between 5.1 and 10 kg (35.71%) with respect to the rest of the patients. Chi-square analysis showed that there was no significant relationship between these variables and the occurrence of the disease.