NECK GIRTH RATIO (NGR)

Todays Topic is about Neck Girth Ratios and how it increases the risk of Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS) in bulldogs.

Neck Girth Ratio is one of the top 3 conformational risk factors researchers have shown to significantly increase the risk of BOAS in French and British bulldogs.

NGR is highly predictive of BOAS in bulldogs.

This is especially true for male French Bulldogs where a NGR of 0.71 and greater in male bulldogs was found to be highly predictive of BOAS (approx 70% in the Liu et al 2017 study of over 214 bulldogs). The greater the NGR value the greater the risk of the bulldog having BOAS.

To calculate a NGR you need to take soft tape measurements of the neck girth (NG) and chest girth (CG).

The formula is Neck Girth divided by Chest Girth. NG / CG

In summary, bulldogs with thinner necks that have a NGR of less than 0.71 have a significantly reduced risk of developing BOAS.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28763490/