http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0173810 This study was published on 5 April 2017. I thought it would be interesting for people whose dogs have had an ACL rupture. But also for everyone else. For me, the interesting points were: - Risk of ACL rupture appears to be "moderately heritable" in Labradors (I believe that means breeders need to seriously reconsider breeding with a dog that has ruptured an ACL). - Loss of sex hormones (neutering) is a risk factor in Labradors. - Human women are more prone to injury (ACL rupture) when oestrogen levels are low in their cycle. Are dogs affected in the same way?
Thank you the article, very interesting reading! Maybe one day we will see health test including ACL hereditary risk. I was shocked to read, they used labradors based on high prevalence of ACL rupture in the US being 5.79%, that's just over 1 in 20 dogs..
I doubt the finding that neutering is a risk factor - I don't think any study has controlled sufficiently for this to be demonstrated. There are some pointers that it might be, but there are lots of studies with too small a number of dogs that state 'no entire male had ACL rupture'. Well, I've got one, and have met several more owners in the same position. So these studies are too small to pick up what is in my experience not at all uncommon - entire males with cruciate ruptures.
Yup...the study was designed purely as a GWA study (genome wide association) of ACL ruptures in labradors, and not to determine associated risk factors. Where they found in conclusion, there were a number of complex genetic associations in many different biological pathways. I guess they were testing the hypothesis of a heritable genetic association, evidence has pointed towards a greater prevalence of ACL ruptures in labradors versus other breeds. In terms of neutered dogs, in the study a proportion were neutered, this co-variate was entered into the statistical models they used to rule out any bias. In the discussion section of the study, there is discussion around various areas that may be linked...both human and canine around the subject matter of ACL ruptures.
They don't claim a neutering link as a finding in this study - as far as I can see anyway. They rely on earlier, older studies to support that statement, these two studies: Witsberger TH, Villamil JA, Schultz LG, Hahn AW, Cook JL. Prevalence of and risk factors for hip dysplasia and cranial cruciate ligament deficiency in dogs. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2008;232: 1818–1824. paid:18598150 Whitehair JG, Vasseur PB, Willits NH. Epidemiology of cranial cruciate ligament rupture in dogs. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 1993;203: 1016–1019. paid:8226247
