OVER REPRESENTATION OF BURMESE CATS WITH DIABETES-MELLITUS

Objective To determine if Burmese cats in Queensland have an increased risk of diabetes mellitus. Design A retrospective study of diabetic a nd nondiabetic cats that had blood submitted to a veterinary clinical laboratory over a 22 month study period. Sample population 4402 cats P rocedure Cats were considered diabetic if blood glucose concentration was > 11 mmol/L and fructosamine was > 406 mu mol/L or hydroxybutyrate was > 1 mmol/L. Cats were grouped into Burmese and non-Burmese. Adjus ted odds ratios of diabetes were calculated for breed, gender and age group amongst cats with blood glucose > 11 mmol/L. Results Burmese cat s comprised 20% of 45 diabetic cats of known breed, which was higher ( P < 0.001) than among the normoglycemic reference population of 2203 c ats (7% Burmese). There were more females among the diabetic Burmese ( 62%), but this did not differ (P > 0.05) from the Burmese reference po pulation (45% females). In contrast, males seemed to predominate among diabetic non-Burmese (63%), although this also did not differ (P > 0. 05) from the reference population (55%) or from diabetic Burmese (38% males). The majority (90%) of diabetic cats were older than 6 years, i rrespective of breed (median age 12 years, interquartile range 10 to 1 3 years). This was higher (chi(2) = 8.13, P < 0.005) than among the no rmoglycaemic reference population, where 69% were older than 6 years. Conclusions Burmese cats were significantly over represented among cat s with diabetes mellitus. Irrespective of breed, the risk of diabetes in the study population increased with age.