Retrospective case series to identify the most common conditions seen ‘out-of-hours’ by first-opinion equine veterinary practitioners.

This research examined the most common ailments handled by equine practitioners during ‘out-of-hours’ between 2011 and 2013. The study, involving two equine practices, analyzed data from 2602 cases, revealing colic, wounds, and lameness to be the top reasons for visits. The objective of the study was to identify variables indicative of ‘critical’ outcomes, suggesting a need for hospitalization, euthanasia, or the horse’s death.

Methodology and Approach

• The researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of cases recorded between 2011 to 2013 at two equine practices. The data gathered consisted of the reason for the ‘out-of-hours’ visit, conducted diagnostic tests, treatment given, and the eventual outcome of the case.
• A system-based coding system was used to categorize the diseases. The use of this coding system facilitated a uniform and standardized way of identifying and classifying the different conditions reported.
• To investigate potential clinical factors associated with ‘critical’ outcomes (i.e., cases that either required hospitalization, resulted in euthanasia, or led to the animal’s death), the researchers assembled a hierarchical logistic regression using a generalised linear model.

Findings and Implications

• Out of the 2602 cases, the majority of ‘out-of-hours’ visits were due to colic (35%), wounds (20%), and lameness (11%). This information provides valuable insight into the most common issues necessitating emergency interventions in equine practice.
• Most cases only required a single treatment (58%). However, 26% of cases needed several treatments, indicating that some conditions were more complicated than others to handle and necessitating multiple interventions.
• Thirteen percent of the cases ended in euthanasia, suggesting that either these conditions were untreatable or the prognosis for recovery was poor. More research is called for to look at the decision-making process that leads to out-of-hours euthanasia.
• Eighteen percent of cases had a critical outcome, meaning they were hospitalized, euthanased, or the horse died. This suggests a significant proportion of ‘out-of-hours’ cases warrant serious interventions.
• Increased heart rate upon first presentation was a significant indicator of a critical outcome at both practices involved in the study. This finding signifies the importance of initial heart rate as a predictor of severity and potential critical outcome in equine patients.