Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy found in 780 healthy cats at rehoming
By Payne, Jessie Rose et al.Ā·Published in Journal of veterinary cardiology : the official journal of the European Society of Veterinary CardiologyĀ·2015Ā·Royal Veterinary College, United KingdomĀ·View original on PubMed ā
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Original publication title: Cardiomyopathy prevalence in 780 apparently healthy cats in rehoming centres (the CatScan study).
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A study found that nearly 15% of apparently healthy cats in rehoming centers had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a heart condition that can lead to serious health issues. The researchers examined 780 cats aged six months and older, and noted that heart murmurs were present in about 41% of them, with many being harmless. Factors like being male, older age, and having a higher body weight were linked to a higher risk of HCM. If you notice a heart murmur in your cat, especially if they are older or male, it may be worth discussing with your veterinarian for further evaluation.
People also search for: cat heart murmur Ā· hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in cats Ā· signs of heart disease in cats
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) appears to be common in cats and, based on pilot data, a prevalence of 15% has been hypothesized. The objectives were to screen a large population of apparently healthy adult cats for cardiac disease, and identify factors associated with a diagnosis of HCM. ANIMALS: A total of 1007 apparently healthy cats ≥ 6 months of age. METHODS: In this prospective, cross-sectional study, the inclusion criteria were: apparently healthy cats, aged ≥ 6 months, available for rehoming over a 17-month period from two rehoming centres. Hypertensive or hyperthyroid cats were excluded. Body weight, body condition score, auscultation, systolic blood pressure and two-dimensional (2-D) echocardiography were evaluated. Cats with left ventricular end-diastolic wall thickness ≥ 6 mm on 2-D echocardiography were considered to have HCM. RESULTS: Complete data were obtained in 780 cats. Heart murmur prevalence was 40.8% (95% confidence interval (CI) 37.3-44.3%), 70.4% of which were considered functional. The prevalence of HCM was 14.7% (95% CI 12.3-17.4%), congenital disease 0.5% (95% CI 0.1-1.3%), and other cardiomyopathies 0.1% (95% CI 0.0-0.7%). The HCM prevalence increased with age. The positive predictive value of a heart murmur for indicating HCM was 17.9-42.6% (higher in old cats), and the negative predictive value was 90.2-100% (higher in young cats). The factors associated with a diagnosis of HCM in binary logistic regression models were male sex, increased age, increased body condition score and a heart murmur (particularly grade III/VI or louder). CONCLUSIONS: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is common in apparently healthy cats, in contrast with other cardiomyopathies. Heart murmurs are also common, and are often functional.
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Search related cases āOriginal publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26776583/