A CASE-CONTROL STUDY OF ACUTE IBUPROFEN TOXICITY IN DOGS

A case-control study used data in the National Animal Poison Control C enter database to characterize risk factors for gastrointestinal ulcer ation and acute renal failure subsequent to the acute ingestion of ibu profen in the dog. For gastrointestinal ulceration (GIU) subsequent to ibuprofen ingestion, four factors differentiated the 116 cases from t he 93 controls. Risk of GIU was lower for dogs when the time from inge stion to intervention was known as opposed to missing (adjusted odds r atio (aOR) = 0.12, p = 0.0001). Risk of GIU was also lower for the Lab rador breed (aOR = 0.22, p = 0.004). Risk of GIU was higher for each u nit of the logarithm of time to intervention (aOR = 2.63, p = 0.0002) and for the German Shepherd breed (aOR = 5.67, p = 0.14), For acute re nal failure (ARF) subsequent to ibuprofen ingestion, two factors diffe rentiated the 80 cases from the 64 controls. Risk of ARF was lower for dogs where the time from ingestion to intervention was known as oppos ed to missing (aOR = 0.15, p = 0.0001). Risk of ARF was higher for eac h unit of the logarithm of time to intervention (aOR = 2.16, p = 0.01) . Although this study failed to describe a dose-response relationship, it appears that there are significant breed differences in susceptibi lity to GIU subsequent to ibuprofen exposure. Time to intervention was critical for both GIU and ARF outcomes. Dogs, particularly German She pherds, ingesting even small amounts of ibuprofen, may need to be mana ged aggressively. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.