Signalment and laboratory findings in cats with diabetes mellitus in Germany: a retrospective review of laboratory submissions of 129,505 cats.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to compare signalment and laboratory parameters between diabetic (D) and non-diabetic (ND) cats and poorly-controlled diabetic (PD) and well-controlled diabetic (WD) cats in Germany. METHODS: Laboratory data from Antech Lab Germany between 2015 and 2018 were retrospectively analysed. Age, sex, red blood cell count (RBC), creatinine (CREA), alkaline phosphatase (AP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), bilirubin (BILI), cholesterol (CHOL), triglycerides (TRI), glucose (GLU) and total thyroxine (TT4) were compared between D (fructosamine &#x2a7e;340&#x2009;&#xb5;mol/l) and ND cats, and PD (fructosamine >500&#x2009;&#xb5;mol/l) and WD (fructosamine 340-500&#x2009;&#xb5;mol/l) cats. The proportion of cats with anaemia (RBC &#x2a7d;4.21&#x2009;&#xd7;10/l), CREA >250&#x2009;&#xb5;mol/l, ALT >455&#x2009;U/l, AP >315&#x2009;U/l, BILI &#x2a7e;35&#x2009;&#xb5;mol/l and TT4&#x2009;>&#x2009;reference interval (RI) was compared between PD and WD cats. Data are presented as median and interquartile range (IQR) and analysed using non-parametric tests. Significance was<0.05, and effect size was assessed by Cram&#xe9;r V or r. RESULTS: In total, 129,505 cats were included (D: n&#x2009;=&#x2009;9334 [prevalence 7.2%], WD: n&#x2009;=&#x2009;5670/9334 [60.7%]). The median age of D and ND cats was 12 years (IQR D 9-14; ND 9-15); there was no difference in sex. A significant difference was found between groups (D vs ND; PD vs WD) for all parameters studied. Considering the effect sizes and medians outside the RI, the only relevant difference was higher CHOL, TRI, AP and GLU in PD compared with WD (CHOL: PD 7.46 [5.85-9.32] vs WD 5.44 [4.32-6.97] mmol/l,<0.001, r&#x2009;=&#x2009;0.39; TRI: PD 1.44 [0.84-3.66] vs WD 0.78 [0.5-1.35] mmol/l,<0.001, r&#x2009;=&#x2009;0.35; AP: PD 66 [47-92] vs WD 35 [23-59] U/l,<0.001, r&#x2009;=&#x2009;0.39; GLU: PD 23.7 [20.15-27.3] vs WD 6.89 [5-11.31] mmol/l,&#x2009;<0.001, r&#x2009;=&#x2009;0.69). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Laboratory changes in diabetic cats were mild and mainly associated with lipid derangements.