Prerace venous blood gases and acid-base values in Standardbred horses: effects of geography, season, prerace furosemide, gender, age, and trainer using big data analytics.

The research article explores how certain factors such as geography, season, a drug called furosemide, gender, age and trainers influence the prerace venous acid-base and blood gas values in Standardbred horses, using large data sets.

Study Design and Methodology

• The study is retrospective in nature i.e., analyses past data. The data set is made up of venous blood samples from 73,382 Standardbred horses that were collected over seven different racing seasons.
• The horses were kept in detention two hours before the race and during this time their blood samples were collected.
• A mixed-effects linear regression model was used to estimate the mean for all significant outcomes. Essentially, the model was adjusted to include key influencing factors like the interaction between age and gender of the horse, the location of the racetrack, as well as the interaction between specific months, year, and whether the horse was treated with furosemide (a drug often used to treat excess fluid build-up in horses).
• The ‘random effect’ of the model was based on individual animals within the scope of specific trainers. This means trainers of the horses had a varying impact on the blood parameters of each individual horse.

Observations and Results

• Geographical differences in the racetrack locations proved statistically significant, indicating that the location/environment could influence the horses’ venous acid-base and blood gas values.
• A seasonal pattern was observed, with values seeing a decrease starting from January and significant reductions recorded in June, July, and August, before gradually increasing again.
• Significant age-associated increases were observed in Base Excess (BE) and Total Carbon Dioxide (TCO2) whereas Partial Pressure of Oxygen (PVO2) decreased with age.
• Males and females displayed significant differences in the acid-base values.
• Differences among trainers were also significant i.e., the practices of some trainers resulted in deviations from the mean, marking these trainers as outliers.

Conclusions

• Big data analytics proved effective in demonstrating how geography, season, treatment with furosemide, gender, age, and trainer practices influence the prerace venous acid-base and blood gas values in Standardbred horses.