Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Low blood phosphate in ICU dogs linked to death and hospital stay
By Oikonomidis, Ioannis L et al.·Published in Veterinary clinical pathology·2025·Institute of Infection, United Kingdom·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Hypophosphatemia in Intensive Care Unit Canine Patients: Occurrence and Association With Mortality and Duration of Hospitalization.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs in an intensive care unit (ICU) had low phosphate levels (hypophosphatemia) during their hospital stay, but this condition was found in only about 1% of the patients. The study looked at 32 dogs with low phosphate and compared them to 64 similar dogs without this issue. Both groups had similar survival rates and lengths of hospitalization, suggesting that low phosphate levels did not affect their chances of recovery or how long they stayed in the ICU. Overall, hypophosphatemia did not seem to be a significant concern for these dogs.
People also search for: dog ICU low phosphate levels · hypophosphatemia in dogs · dog hospitalization recovery rates
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Hypophosphatemia is commonly observed in unselected human intensive care unit (ICU) patients, and it has been associated, although inconsistently, with worse outcomes and longer duration of hospitalization (DOH). The incidence of hypophosphatemia and its association with mortality and DOH in ICU canine patients is unknown. OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to determine the occurrence of hypophosphatemia in unselected ICU canine patients and its association with mortality and DOH. METHODS: The medical records of all dogs admitted to the Teaching Hospital ICU between January 2019 and December 2023 were retrospectively reviewed. Dogs with hypophosphatemia (serum phosphate < 0.9 mmol/L) were identified. For every hypophosphataemic dog included in this study, two age-matched control, non-hypophosphataemic dogs, closely admitted to the ICU in time, were included. RESULTS: In total, 3233 medical records were reviewed. Hypophosphatemia was noted in ≥ 1 day of hospitalization in 32 dogs (0.99%). The age-matched case and control groups had a median (range) age of 8.0 (1.0-14.0) years. The survival to discharge rates of both hypophosphataemic and control groups were 78% (25/32 and 50/64, respectively), and their DOH (median, 3.5 days; range 1.0-9.0 and median 3.0 days; range 1.0-25.0, respectively) were not significantly different (p = 0.557). Serum phosphate concentration was not correlated with the DOH (p = 0.649). CONCLUSIONS: Hypophosphatemia was noted in only 1% in this canine ICU patient population and was not associated with the survival to discharge and DOH.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40454701/