2015 ACVIM Forum Research Abstract Program

Dogs diagnosed with gallbladder mucocele ranged in age from 4.0 to 15.2 years (median, 10.3 years). Shetland sheepdogs, Cocker spaniels, and Chihuahuas were significantly overrepresented relative to the general hospital population. Dogs with gallbladder mucocele were 2.6 times as likely to have a report of treatment with thyroxine (proxy for a diagnosis of hypothyroidism) as controls dogs (OR 2.549, 95% CI 1.124-5.796, P = 0.0256); 2.6 times as likely to have a report of treatment for Cushing's disease (OR 2.605, 95% CI 0.988-6.861, P = 0.0529); and, 2.079 times as likely to have reported the use of products containing imidacloprid (OR 2.079, 95% CI 0.985-4.389, P = 0.0549). The lower side of the 95% CI for imidacloprid crosses 1 and results should be interpreted with caution. Based on unique pharmacogenomic differences in Shetland sheepdogs (e.g. ABCB1 gene mutation), we analyzed two data subsets considering all Shetland sheepdogs in one group (18 cases and 36 controls) and the other breeds in a different group (no multivariate analysis was possible due to sparse data). Results indicated that Shetland sheepdogs with a mucocele diagnosis were 8.2 times as likely to have reported the use of imidacloprid as controls dogs (OR 8.217, 95% CI 0.947-71.267, P = 0.056), while for the other subset of dogs there was no indication of any association.