Associations between puppy and adolescent diet and conjunctivitis in dogs

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Date
2021Embargo Lift Date
04.09.2021Author
Peltonen, Janette
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The conjunctiva is a part of the external eye and its inflammation is called conjunctivitis.
Certain nutrients are important for eye health. The aim of this study was to associate the
food item data from the dog’s puppyhood and adolescence with the diagnosis of conjunctivitis at adult age and see if any positive or negative associations could be found. Hypothesis was that the more fats the dog eats, the less there would be conjunctivitis.
Puppy and adolescent diet data used as study material were from DogRisk questionnaire
collected from Finnish dogs December 2009 until April 2015. Statistical analyses were
done with IBM SPSS software and a p-value ≤0.05 was counted as significant. Conjunctivitis and eye inflammation were put as one variable, and together was a common diagnosis in study populations (58.3% puppies, 58% adolescent).
There was seen negative association with conjunctivitis when puppies were often fed with
cooked vegetables (p = 0.009; OR = 0.911; 95% CI = 0.850–0.977) or animal fat (p =
0.047; OR = 0.870; 95% CI = 0.759–0.998) and adolescent fed with raw bones and cartilage (p = 0.011; OR = 0.933; 95% CI = 0.885–0.984) or human meal leftovers (p = 0.021;
OR = 0.927; 95% CI = 0.870–0.989). The associations were significant between those
food items and conjunctivitis, but the high odds ratio indicates that the association is not
very strong and do not support causality. These associations should be further tested and
confirmed in diet intervention studies. Silma sidekest on osa välisest silmast ja selle põletikku nimetatakse konjunktiviidiks. Teatud toitained on silmade tervise seisukohalt olulised. Selle uuringu eesmärk oli uurida seoseid koera kutsika ja noorukieas saadud toidu andmed konjunktiviidi diagnoosiga täiskasvanueas. Uuringu hüpotees oli, et mida rohkem rasvarikast toitu koer nooruses sööb, seda
vähem esineb konjunktiviiti täiskasvanud eas.
Uuringumaterjalina kasutati kutsikate ja noorte koerte toitmise andmed mis pärinesid küsimustikust DogRisk. Vastav küsitlus viidi lobi Soomes alates detsembrist 2009 kuni aprillini 2015. Andmed analüüsiti statistilise tarkvaraga IBM SPSS ja p-väärtus ≤0,05 loeti
oluliseks. Küsimustiku andmetes liideti omavahel konjunktiviidi ja silmapõletiku diagnoosid ja kasutati seda kui uuringu väljundit. Konjunktiviiti täiskasvanud eas esines kutsikate andmestikus 58,3% ja noorte koerte andmestikus 58,0%.
Negatiivset seost konjunktiviidi esinemisega täiskasvanueas täheldati siis, kui kutsikaid
toideti sageli keedetud köögiviljadega (p = 0,009; OR = 0,911; 95% CI = 0,850–0,977)
või loomarasvaga (p = 0,047; OR = 0,870; 95% CI = 0,759–0,998) ja noori koeri toideti
toorete luude ja kõhrega (p = 0,011; OR = 0,933; 95% CI = 0,885–0,984) või inimtoidu
jääkidega (p = 0,021; OR = 0,927; 95% CI = 0,870–0,989). Negatiivsed seosed olid nende
toiduainete ja konjunktiviidi vahel olulised, kuid kõrged tõenäosuse suhted (OR) viitavad,
et seosed ei ole väga tugevad. Leitud seoseid tuleks täiendavalt testida ja kinnitada söötmiskatsetes.