Quality of life assessment of dogs diagnosed with degenerative mitral valve disease before and after treatment

Chee, Yuet Yien (2023) Quality of life assessment of dogs diagnosed with degenerative mitral valve disease before and after treatment. [Project Paper] (Submitted)

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Abstract

Canine degenerative mitral valve disease (DMVD) is dogs' most prevalent heart disease. Long-term management of dogs with DMVD aims to improve the quality of life (QoL). Hence, QoL assessment is essential for formulating treatment strategies that benefit patients. This study aimed to determine i) that treatment improved QoL and radiographical findings, ii) the effective treatment regime for each Stage C and D dog, and iii) the correlation between QoL and radiographic characteristics. A 10-year retrospective study was conducted at the University Veterinary Hospital, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UVH-UPM), and case files of 149 client-owned dogs with DMVD in Stages C and D were retrieved. Information for QoL such as well-being (body weight, appetite, lethargy, exercise intolerance), respiratory variables (dyspnoea, coughing, panting, abdominal breathing), circulatory variables (cyanosis, syncope), vertebral heart score (VHS) and vertebral left atrial size (VLAS) was recorded. Comparison was made between treatments using inodilators and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE-i). The collected data were subjected to descriptive statistics, Friedman’s test, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test and Spearman’s correlation analysis. QoL variables (appetite, lethargy, exercise intolerance, dyspnoea, coughing, panting, abdominal breathing and syncope) showed significant improvement after treatment (day-60 and -180) (p<0.05). ACE-i significantly (p<0.05) improved body weight and cyanosis in Stage D, and VHS (p=0.03) in Stage C dogs. An increase in VLAS was positively correlated with abdominal breathing (p=0.02) and syncope (p=0.02). Therefore, VLAS may be used as a prognostic indicator for abdominal breathing and syncope. This study showed that treatment improves the QoL of dogs with Stage C or Stage D DMVD. There was no difference in QoL between treatment groups of Stage C dogs but, Stage D dogs treated with ACE-i had better improvement in body weight and cyanosis. Stage C dogs treated with ACE-i had smaller heart sizes.

Item Type:	Project Paper
Faculty:	Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Depositing User:	Ms. Nordeena Abdul Aziz
Date Deposited:	18 Nov 2024 08:17
Last Modified:	18 Nov 2024 08:17
URI:	http://psaspb.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/2147

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