Association between COVID-19 policies, prevalence of cats with urethral obstruction
The aim of this study was to investigate a potential association between COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home orders and the prevalence of emergency room presentations for urethral obstruction (UO) in feline patients.
The research team retrospectively searched medical records and hospital census to identify the total number of cats and total number of male cats with UO presenting to two academic veterinary medical centers from March to August in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Researchers grouped the cats based on the year of presentation and the proportions of UO cases relative to all cats presenting to the ERs during the same period. Absolute and relative change in prevalence was determined. These were compared for each year using a two-sample z-test.
The absolute and relative prevalence of UO presentations across the combined population increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison with 2018 (2.2% and 59%, respectively; P = 0.0003) and 2019 (1.9% and 48%, respectively; P = 0.0021).
For the individual institutions, researchers found a significant increase in UO presentations for institution A when comparing 2020 with both 2018 (P = 0.0072) and 2019 (P = 0.0073), but not for institution B (P = 0.057 and P = 0.18, respectively). No significant differences were found when 2018 and 2019 were compared across the combined population or within institutions.
In conclusion, the authors said this study demonstrates an increased prevalence of UO during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, which may be related to environmental change and stress imposed by stay-at-home orders.
Joanna B. Finstad, et al. “Association between the COVID-19 global pandemic and the prevalence of cats presenting with urethral obstruction at two university veterinary emergency rooms.” J Feline Med Surg. 2023 Feb;25(2):1098612X221149377. doi: 10.1177/1098612X221149377.
Comments
Related Articles
Copyright © 2024 - All Rights Reserved
ISSN 2768-198X
List
Add
Please enter a comment