Forums

Guidance, support and wisdom to benefit and maximize the life and longevity of animals.

VetVine Client Care

Posted On Aug 29, 2018

Updated On Dec 04, 2025

IMHA Incidence And Geographic Distribution

Internal Medicine

This question wa submitted during a past webinar on the topic of immune-mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA):

Question:
What is the epidemiology of IMHA in the US? Is there a geographical distribution of cases? Would you say the number of IMHA cases per year is on the rise and thoughts as to why this is the case?

Answer by Linda Kidd, DVM, PhD, DACVIM (SAIM):
This is an excellent question. The prevalence of IMHA and whether or not it is increasing has not been reported by geographic regions to my knowledge. Collecting this data would be feasible given that most veterinary schools and private hospitals have computerized medical records. There would be a need to be sure to standardize the diagnosis of IMHA (to be sure it was truly present in each dog reported) and a need for the hospitals to code their diagnoses on their master problem lists. This is an excellent idea for a study and an important question to answer, it could give us clues about its etiology if we clearly document prevalence based on geographic distribution, breed the presence of underlying disease and other trigger factors, and seasonality.

Learn more about IMHA in Dogs