Short-term survival rates of 1397 horses referred for colic from 2010 to 2018

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningfagfællebedømt

Dokumenter

  • Fulltext

    Forlagets udgivne version, 674 KB, PDF-dokument

  • Emma Dybkjær
  • Kirstine Fleng Steffensen
  • Marie Louise Honoré
  • Mathias Ankjær Dinesen
  • Mogens Teken Christophersen
  • Pihl, Tina

Background: Up-to-date and hospital-specific knowledge of prognoses for horses with various forms of colic is essential for helping to guide owners’ decisions on costly treatments, and for assessing the continuous development of standards of care in the hospital. This study aimed to determine the short-term survival rates of horses admitted with colic to the University Hospital for Large Animals (UHLA), University of Copenhagen, Denmark, from 2010 to 2018, and to compare these to a previous local study as well as recent, comparable international studies. Short-term survival rates were calculated for horses grouped by treatment (surgical, medical) and diseases. Results were compared to the selected studies using Chi-square tests. Results: A total of 1752 horses were admitted with colic during the period, of which 355 were excluded for reasons such as economic restrictions or immediate euthanasia. Short-term survival of the remaining 1397 cases was significantly higher (83.0% (95% CI 81.1–85.0%)) than a previous local study (76%) and a recent Dutch study (80%). Medical treatment was carried out in 77.1% of cases, and surgery in 22.9% of the cases. Short-term survival for medically (89.7%) and surgically (60.6%) treated horses was significantly higher in the present study compared to the previous study (87% and 42%, respectively), but was similar to that found in the Dutch study. Significantly fewer horses were euthanised during surgery than in the previous study (17.2 vs. 40%), and significantly more horses recovered from surgery (79.1 vs. 56%). Short-term survival rate of surgically treated horses (60.6%) did not differ from other European studies (55–62%). Conclusions: Short-term survival rates have increased since the previous study at UHLA, mainly due to a decrease in intraoperative euthanasia. Survival rates in this study are similar to those found in recent comparable colic studies.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
Artikelnummer11
TidsskriftActa Veterinaria Scandinavica
Vol/bind64
ISSN0044-605X
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2022

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Annette Larsen and Jeanne Pilegaard for their help in locating journals in hospital archives, as well as Frida Henriksson and Melissa Dahl for their help in data collection from journals. We further thank the clinical staff at UHLA for handling of patients and clinical data collection.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).

ID: 307741883