Prevalence of Systemic Hypertension in Dogs and Plasma Cystatin C as a Biomarker for Target Organ Damage Risk Assessment

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of systemic hypertension and the associated risk of target organ damage in dogs, while evaluating plasma cystatin C levels as a potential biomarker for early renal damage detection. A total of 93 dogs presented to the Small Animal Clinic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Aydın Adnan Menderes University were included. Blood pressure measurements were performed using a non-invasive oscillometric device (petMAP Graphic II), and dogs were classified according to the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine guidelines. Of the dogs evaluated, 61% were hypertensive, with 18% classified as prehypertensive, 23% as hypertensive, and 19% as severely hypertensive based on target organ damage risk. Plasma cystatin C levels were significantly higher in hypertensive dogs compared to normotensive dogs (p<0.01). Furthermore, cystatin C levels were notably elevated in the prehypertensive (p<0.05) and severely hypertensive (p<0.001) groups compared to the normotensive group. These results highlight systemic hypertension as a significant health concern in dogs and suggest that plasma cystatin C may serve as a reliable biomarker for early renal damage detection associated with hypertension. However, further studies with larger sample sizes and long-term monitoring are required to validate these findings.