Research Communications of the 24th ECVIM-CA Congress

No conflicts of interest reported. Mitral valve disease (MVD) is the most common cardiovascular disease in dogs. It's characterized by myxomatous degeneration, which causes mitral valve prolapse (MVP), mitral regurgitation (MR) and a left apical systolic murmur (LASM). MVD affects small breed dogs with a very high prevalence in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (CKCS). The main goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of LASM, MVP and MR in the Maltese, the most presented breed among dogs with MVD in Taiwan. The correlation between these 3 measurements and the influence of age, gender, reproductive state, and body weight were also investigated. Study results were compared to other MVD prevalence studies in Europe and North-America. 162 client-owned Maltese dogs (75 males and 87 females; body weight 1.35-7.15 kg; age 2-15 yrs) with no signs of heart failure were recruited. The intensity (grade 1-6) of LASM was recorded. Grade of MVP (mild/severe) and MR severity (mild/moderate/ severe) were evaluated by echocardiography. Logistic regression was used to determine the correlation between age and presence of LASM, MVP and MR. A Chi-square test was used to evaluate whether sex and reproductive-status were related to prevalences of LASM, MVP and MR. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to assess the relationships between age, body weight, LASM intensity, grade of MVP and severity of MR. The prevalence of LASM, MVP and MR were 28.4%, 34% and 41.4%, respectively. All have positive correlation with age (p = 0.000). The age at which 50% of the dogs had LASM, MVP and MR was 7.7, 7.5, and 5.6 years, respectively. The LASM intensity, MVP grade and MR severity were all positively correlated to age (all p = 0.000) and had no correlation with BW and reproductive status. Females had a significantly higher prevalence of LASM than males (36% vs. 21.8%, p = 0.046). Maltese dogs in Taiwan have a very high prevalence and an early development of MVD as compared to other small breed dogs, similar to MVD in CKCS in other countries. Since we only recruited asymptomatic Dogs, this study may underestimate the prevalence of MVD in the whole Maltese population. To our knowledge, this is the first report to document the high prevalence of MVD in Taiwanese Maltese.The Maltese may be a new canine model for genetic, pathology, and natural history studies in MVD.