Prospective study of equine colic incidence and mortality

Abstract

Summary A prospective study of one year was conducted on 31 horse farms to obtain population based estimates of incidence, morbidity and mortality rates of equine colic. Farms with greater than 20 horses were enrolled by randomly selecting horse owners from 2 adjacent counties of Virginia and Maryland. Descriptive information for 1427 horses was collected at the initiation of the study and updated at 3 month intervals. Time on the farm during the study was tabulated for each horse. When colic was reported by the owner, investigators visited the farm to obtain information about the colic. The crude incidence density rate of colic was 10.6 colic cases/100 horse‐years, based on 104 cases/358,991 horse‐days. The median farm specific incidence density rate was 7 cases/100 horse‐years, and the range for individual farms varied from 0 to 30 colic cases/100 horse‐years. A specific diagnosis was not made for 84 (81%) of colic episodes. Seventy colic episodes (67%) were treated by a veterinarian. Drugs were used in 83 (80%) colic episodes, and 78 (75%) of colic cases were mild, requiring no treatment or resolving after only one treatment. Four horses required colic surgery. Fourteen (13%) horses had more than one episode of colic during the year. Mortality from all causes of death was 2.5 deaths/100 horse‐years, mortality rate for colic was 0.7 deaths/100 horse‐years. Proportional mortality rate of colic, 28%, was higher than for any other cause of death. Horses less than age 2 years or greater than age 10 years had lower incidence than horses age 2–10 years. No difference in colic risk between genders was identified. Arabian horses had the lowest and Thoroughbreds the highest breed specific incidence rates. Horses used for eventing, or in training had a statistically significant higher incidence rate of colic compared to mature horses with no use (pets, retired, on pasture with no stated purpose). Horses used for lessons or with no use had the lowest incidence rates.

Perfil e distribuição da síndrome cólica em eqüinos em três unidades militares do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

“…A proporção de casos que necessitam de cirurgia varia consideravelmente de acordo com o tipo de cólica e é dependente do plantel analisado, sendo a de origem intestinal a que mais frequentemente requer cirurgia. Percentuais de casos cirúrgicos de 1,4%, 3,8 % e 6,3% foram relatados (TINKER et al,1997a;COHEN et al, 1999;TRAUB-DARGATZ et al, 2001).…”

“…Esses valores estão abaixo dos relatados por TINKER et al (1997a) nos EUA, que observaram 6,7% de letalidade em equinos com cólica em fazendas de criação e nos casos de cólica atendidos em hospitais de Escolas de Veterinária. Altos percentuais de letalidade podem ser resultantes do fato de que os casos clínicos levados a um hospital escola normalmente já estão bem avançados, e as possíveis lesões no trato gastrintestinal já estão mais graves.…”

“…Apresenta alta incidência (KANEENE et al, 1997;TINKER et al, 1997a,b;HILLYER et al, 2001, TRAUB-DARGATZ et al, 2001MEHDI & MOHAMMAD, 2006) e alta letalidade, que varia de 6,7 a 50,0%, de acordo com o plantel equino estudado e o tipo de cólica (HUNT et al, 1986;TINKER et al, 1997a). Não é uma entidade nosológica específica e sim, um conjunto de múltiplas condições consequentes a determinadas disfunções de vísceras intra-abdominais, sendo responsável por grandes perdas econômicas devido a gastos com tratamento (TRAUB-DARGATZ et al, 2001), tempo de afastamento do equino de suas atividades normais, perdas decorrentes de infecções e abortos em éguas (SANTSCHI et al, 1991;BOENING & LEENDERTSE, 1993) e morte.…”

“…Os episódios que resultam em cirurgia variam entre 1,4 e 6,3%, segundo os plantéis analisados e o tipo de cólica prevalecente (TINKER et al, 1997a;COHEN et al, 1999;TRAUB-DARGATZ et al, 2001).…”

The Use of SIFT-MS in Profiling the Faecal Volatile Metabolome in Horses with Colic: A Pilot Study

“…Dietary supplementation with readily hydrolysable carbohydrate, commonly in the form of grain, is often used to alleviate this, however, it is widely recognised that this is associated with an increased risk of intestinal disease [24][25][26][27][28]. Acute intestinal disease, also known as colic, is the single most important cause of mortality in horses and a significant cause of morbidity and economic loss in managed horse populations [29,30]. It also appears to be a major cause of reduced productivity in working equids globally [31].…”