A study of factors associated with arterial thromboembolism in cats affected with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in Thailand

Abstract

Feline arterial thromboembolism (ATE) is an acute condition that is usually associated with cardiomyopathy in cats.
To date, there has been no report of factors associated with ATE in cats affected with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
(HCM) in Thailand. The purpose of this study was to find factors related to ATE in cats with HCM. A retrospective
study was performed in 70 cats with HCM dividing them into two groups (26 ATE and 44 non-ATE groups) to analyze
factors relating to ATE including sex, breed, age, weight, heart sounds, radiographic findings, echocardiographic
findings and the environmental temperature. The result of univariable logistic regression analysis revealed that the
factors significantly related to ATE in HCM cats were age, the presence of spontaneous contrast, percentage fractional
shortening (FS), left atrial to aorta ratio (LA/Ao) and the environmental temperature. Multivariable logistic regression
presented that age (OR: 7.503; 95%CI: 1.310-42.969; p = 0.024), the presence of spontaneous contrast (OR: 30.855; 95%CI:
4.298-221.487; p = 0.001), and the environmental temperature (OR: 1.616; 95%CI: 1.080-2.417; p = 0.019) were the factors
related to ATE in HCM cats. The result of this study is valuable for the risk assessment of ATE in HCM cats.