The Influence of Phylogenic Origin on the Occurrence of Brachycephalic Airway Obstruction Syndrome in a Large Retrospective Study

Strategies to identify genetic polymorphisms responsible for inherited disorders in purebred dog population are often based on experimental studies whereas hospitals case reports provide widely and easily affordable information of clinical significance. When this clinical information is enriched with knowledge on the phylogenetic origins, breed histories of the dog and adjusted for known biases, they may lead the way to more in depth genetic research. We illustrated here with a very complex disease, the brachycephalic airway obstruction syndrome (BAOS). No cases were reported in the boxer breed while almost half of the dogs from the other brachycephalic breeds of the same phylogenetic cluster were BAOS, making these breeds good candidates for further genetic studies. Critical issues to improve utility of clinical data for genetic studies are discussed along with methods to handle biases inherent to such type of studies.