Lifespan and Causes of Death in the Irish Wolfhound - Vetsuisse ...

Coefficient R 2 p F Coefficient R 2 p F
5 Gens 0.000037 0.82 0.05 20 Gens 0.0013 0.18 1.81
10 Gens 0.000045 0.80 0.06 Meuwissen 0.0026 0.06 3.53
Table 6.9: Influence of inbreeding on lifespan (n=1423; DF=1; type III SS)
Age at Death vs. Inbreeding (Meuwissen)
16
14
12
Age at Death
10
8
6
4
2
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Meuwissen's Inbreeding Coefficient
Fig. 6.7: Diagram of measured lifespan and Meuwissen's Inbreeding Coefficients,
adjusted for Cohort Bias. No significant correlation was found.
6.2.3.2 Causes of Death
Since an association of increasing inbreeding level with DCM in Irish Wolfhounds has
been reported in the literature (Broschk 2004), this possibility was also analysed in
our population. Inbreeding levels in the population affected with DCM and the
randomly chosen reference population (see chapter 4.5) were not significantly
different for 5- and 10-generation Wright's inbreeding coefficients as well as
Meuwissen's inbreeding coefficients. On the other hand, 20-generation Wright's
inbreeding coefficients were significantly lower in dogs affected with DCM than in
dogs without DCM, but R 2 remains very low (0.26 ± 0.09 vs. 0.28 ± 0.07; p=0.033,
R 2 =0.0014, F=4.54; Type III SS).
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