FREE SHIPPING over $40
OVER 10000 FIVE-STAR REVIEWS
5% OFF ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS
100% HAPPINESS GUARANTEE
Analyze Diet
0
The Veterinary record2023; 192(7); e2644; doi: 10.1002/vetr.2644

Serum amyloid A does not predict non-survival in hospitalised adult horses with acute colitis.

Abstract: Predicting non-survival in horses with acute colitis improves early decision making. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prognostic value of serum amyloid A (SAA) and other clinicopathological and clinical variables in adult horses with acute colitis. Clinical variables, SAA and other blood biomarkers, including plasma L-lactate (lactate), were assessed in 176 horses with acute colitis. A multivariate model for the prediction of non-survival was constructed. Icelandic horses were analysed separately. Admission SAA was similar in survivors (median 548 mg/L; range 0-5453 mg/L) and non-survivors (396 mg/L; 0-5294) (p = 0.43). A model for non-survival included year of admission, lactate, heart rate, age and colic duration of more than 24 hours. Icelandic horses had a relative risk of 2.9 (95% confidence interval = 2.2-3.8) for acute colitis compared to other breeds. Lactate in Icelandic horses was higher than that in other breeds in both survivors (4.0 mmol/L, range 1.0-12.7 vs. 2.0, 0.7-12.5) and non-survivors (10.0, 1.5-26 vs. 5.4, 0.8-22) (p < 0.001). The prognostic value of repeated measurements of SAA could not be assessed in this study, as 71% of the non-surviving horses died within a day of admission. Admission SAA did not predict non-survival. Breed needs consideration when lactate is evaluated as a predictor for non-survival in horses with colitis.
© 2023 The Authors. Veterinary Record published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Veterinary Association.
Get Full Text
Publication Date: 2023-02-13 PubMed ID: 36780213DOI: 10.1002/vetr.2644Google Scholar: Lookup
The Equine Research Bank provides access to a large database of publicly available scientific literature. Inclusion in the Research Bank does not imply endorsement of study methods or findings by Mad Barn.
LinkedInCopy
  • Journal Article

Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

This research aimed to understand if a particular biological marker, serum amyloid A (SAA), could predict non-survival in horses suffering from acute colitis. The study concluded that SAA levels could not be used as a predictor, and further factors such as year of admission, lactate levels, heart rate, age, the duration of colic, and breed must be taken into account.

Research Purpose and Methodology

  • The primary aim of this study was to determine whether serum amyloid A (SAA), a protein produced by the liver in response to inflammation, could be used as a prognostic indicator in horses with acute colitis. Acute colitis is a severe inflammation of the large intestine in horses, causing pain and often leading to life-threatening complications if not promptly treated.
  • The researchers measured admission SAA levels, various blood biomarkers, and clinical variables in a group of 176 hospitalized adult horses diagnosed with acute colitis. Other considered factors included plasma L-lactate, year of admission, heart rate, age, and duration of colic more than 24 hours.
  • To build a predictive model for non-survival, a multivariate analysis was conducted. The study also analyzed Icelandic horses separately due to their unique genetic characteristics and susceptibility to certain conditions.

Research Findings

  • The study found no significant difference in admission SAA levels between surviving and non-surviving horses, showing that SAA cannot be used as a predictor for non-survival in horses with acute colitis.
  • However, certain factors shown to be valuable in the predictive model included the year of admission, lactate levels, heart rate, age, and colic duration of more than 24 hours.
  • Interestingly, the study also found that Icelandic horses had a higher relative risk (2.9 times increase in risk) of developing acute colitis compared to other breeds, making breed an important consideration in evaluation and treatment.
  • Additionally, lactate levels in Icelandic horses were found to be higher compared to other breeds, suggesting that this could be a significant factor in evaluating the risk of non-survival in horses with colitis.

Research Limitations and Conclusions

  • The research had certain limitations, as 71% of non-surviving horses in the sample died within a day of admission, making it impossible to assess the prognostic value of repeated measurements of SAA.
  • The study concluded that SAA levels upon admission do not predict non-survival in horses with acute colitis. Other factors, including breed, must be considered when evaluating lactate as a predictor for non-survival.

Cite This Article

APA
Runge KE, Bak M, Vestergaard A, Staerk-Østergaard J, Jacobsen S, Pihl TH. (2023). Serum amyloid A does not predict non-survival in hospitalised adult horses with acute colitis. Vet Rec, 192(7), e2644. https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.2644

Publication

The Veterinary record
ISSN: 2042-7670
NlmUniqueID: 0031164
Country: England
Language: English
Volume: 192
Issue: 7
Pages: e2644

Researcher Affiliations

Runge, Kira Elisabeth
  • Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Taastrup, Denmark.
Bak, Maj
  • Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Taastrup, Denmark.
Vestergaard, Amalie
  • Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Taastrup, Denmark.
Staerk-Østergaard, Jacob
  • Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Animal Welfare and Disease Control, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Jacobsen, Stine
  • Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Taastrup, Denmark.
Pihl, Tina Holberg
  • Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Taastrup, Denmark.

MeSH Terms

  • Horses
  • Animals
  • Serum Amyloid A Protein
  • Colitis / veterinary
  • Lactic Acid
  • Prognosis
  • Biomarkers
  • Horse Diseases

References

This article includes 44 references
  1. McConnico RS. Acute colitis in horses. 2015;p. 297-301.
  2. Petersen MB, Tolver A, Husted L, Tølbøll TH, Pihl TH. Repeated measurements of blood lactate concentration as a prognostic marker in horses with acute colitis evaluated with classification and regression trees (CART) and random forest analysis. Vet J 2016;213:18-23.
  3. Tennent-Brown BS, Wilkins PA, Lindborg S, Russell G, Boston RC. Sequential plasma lactate concentrations as prognostic indicators in adult equine emergencies. J Vet Intern Med 2010;24(1):198-205.
  4. Hashimoto-Hill S, Magdesian KG, Kass PH. Serial measurement of lactate concentration in horses with acute colitis. J Vet Intern Med 2011;25(6):1414-9.
  5. Milomir K, Bernhard H, Wolfgang S, Joseph T, Zoran T. Survival and evaluation of clinical and laboratory variables as prognostic indicators in horses hospitalized with acute diarrhea: 342 cases (1995-2015). Acta Vet Brno 2017;67(3):356-65.
  6. Staempfli HR, Townsend HGG, Prescott JF. Prognostic features and clinical presentation of acute idiopathic enterocolitis in horses. Can Vet J 1991;32(4):232-7.
  7. Gomez DE, Arroyo LG, Stämpfli HR, Cruz LE, Oliver OJ. Physicochemical interpretation of acid-base abnormalities in 54 adult horses with acute severe colitis and diarrhea. J Vet Intern Med 2013;27(3):548-53.
  8. Johnston K, Holcombe SJ, Hauptman JG. Plasma lactate as a predictor of colonic viability and survival after 360° volvulus of the ascending colon in horses. Vet Surg 2007;36(6):563-7.
  9. Jacobsen S. Use of serum amyloid A in equine medicine and surgery. Vet Clin Pathol. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/vcp.13195
    doi: 10.1111/vcp.13195google scholar: lookup
  10. Jacobsen S, Andersen PH. The acute phase protein serum amyloid a (SAA) as a marker of inflammation in horses. Equine Vet Educ 2007;19(1):38-46.
  11. Pihl TH, Andersen PH, Kjelgaard-Hansen M, Mørck NB, Jacobsen S. Serum amyloid A and haptoglobin concentrations in serum and peritoneal fluid of healthy horses and horses with acute abdominal pain. Vet Clin Pathol 2013;42(2):177-83.
  12. Kjelgaard-Hansen M, Jacobsen S. Assay validation and diagnostic applications of major acute-phase protein testing in companion animals. Clin Lab Med 2011;31(1):51-70.
  13. Pihl TH, Scheepers E, Sanz M, Goddard A, Page P, Toft N. Acute-phase proteins as diagnostic markers in horses with colic. J Vet Emerg Crit Care 2016;26(5):664-74.
  14. Vandenplas ML, Moore JN, Barton MH, Roussel AJ, Cohen ND. Concentrations of serum amyloid A and lipopolysaccharide-binding protein in horses with colic. Am J Vet Res 2005;66:1509-16.
  15. Belgrave RL, Dickey MM, Arheart KL, Carolyn C. Assessment of serum amyloid A testing of horses and its clinical application in a specialized equine practice. J Am Vet Med Assoc 2013;113:113-9.
  16. Jacobsen S, Kjelgaard-Hansen M, Hagbard Petersen H, Jensen AL. Evaluation of a commercially available human serum amyloid A (SAA) turbidometric immunoassay for determination of equine SAA concentrations. Vet J 2006;172(2):315-9.
  17. Westerman TL, Foster CM, Tornquist SJ, Poulsen KP. Evaluation of serum amyloid A and haptoglobin concentrations as prognostic indicators for horses with inflammatory disease examined at a tertiary care hospital. J Am Vet Med Assoc 2016;248:935-40.
  18. Eckhardt ERM, Witta J, Zhong J, Arsenescu R, Arsenescu V, Wang Y. Intestinal epithelial serum amyloid A modulates bacterial growth in vitro and pro-inflammatory responses in mouse experimental colitis. BMC Gastroenterol 2010;10:133.
  19. Daniel AJ, Leise BS, Burgess BA, Morley PS, Cloninger M, Hassel DM. Concentrations of serum amyloid A and plasma fibrinogen in horses undergoing emergency abdominal surgery. J Vet Emerg Crit Care 2016;26(3):344-51.
  20. De Cozar M, Sherlock C, Knowles E, Mair T. Serum amyloid A and plasma fibrinogen concentrations in horses following emergency exploratory celiotomy. Equine Vet J 2020;52(1):59-66.
  21. Aitken MR, Stefanovski D, Southwood LL. Serum amyloid A concentration in postoperative colic horses and its association with postoperative complications. Vet Surg 2019;48(2):143-51.
  22. Ticinesi A, Lauretani F, Nouvenne A, Porro E, Fanelli G, Maggio M. C-reactive protein (CRP) measurement in geriatric patients hospitalized for acute infection. Eur J Intern Med 2017;37:7-12.
  23. Lanziotti VS, Póvoa P, Prata-Barbosa A, Pulcheri LB, Rabello LSCF, Lapa E Silva JR. Patterns of C-reactive protein ratio response to antibiotics in pediatric sepsis: a prospective cohort study. J Crit Care 2018;44:217-22.
  24. Jekarl DW, Lee SY, Lee J, Park YJ, Kim Y, Park JH. Procalcitonin as a diagnostic marker and IL-6 as a prognostic marker for sepsis. Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis 2013;75(4):342-7.
  25. Heper Y, Akalın EH, Mıstık R, Akgöz S, Töre O, Göral G. Evaluation of serum C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and interleukin-10 levels as diagnostic and prognostic parameters in patients with community-acquired sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 2006;25(8):481-91.
  26. de Buck M, Gouwy M, Wang JM, Van Snick J, Opdenakker G, Struyf S. Structure and expression of different serum amyloid A (SAA) variants and their concentration-dependent functions during host insults. Curr Med Chem 2016;23:1725-55.
  27. Zhang G, Liu J, Wu L, Fan Y, Sun L, Qian F. Elevated expression of serum amyloid A 3 protects colon epithelium against acute injury through TLR2-dependent induction of neutrophil IL-22 expression in a mouse model of colitis. Front Immunol 2018;9:1503.
  28. Burke JE, Nguyen THT, Davis T, Koenig A, Lane SL, Good J. Evaluation of the i-STAT Alinity v in a veterinary clinical setting. J Vet Diagn Invest 2021;33(4):703-10.
  29. Tschudi PR. Evaluation of the portable blood analyser i-STAT. Schweiz Arch Tierheilkd 1998;140:507-12.
  30. Luethy D, Feldman R, Stefanovski D, Aitken MR. Risk factors for laminitis and nonsurvival in acute colitis: retrospective study of 85 hospitalized horses (2011-2019). J Vet Intern Med 2021;35(4):2019-25.
  31. Macías-Rioseco M, Hill AE, Uzal FA. Fatal intestinal inflammatory lesions in equids in California: 710 cases (1990-2013). J Am Vet Med Assoc 2020;256(4):455-62.
  32. Costa MC, Arroyo LG, Allen-Vercoe E, Stampfli HR, Kim PT, Sturgeon A. Comparison of the fecal microbiota of healthy horses and horses with colitis by high throughput sequencing of the V3-V5 region of the 16s rRNA gene. PLoS One 2012;7(7):e41484.
  33. Arroyo LG, Rossi L, Santos BP, Gomez DE, Surette MG, Costa MC. Luminal and mucosal microbiota of the cecum and large colon of healthy and diarrheic horses. Animals 2020;10(8):1-12.
  34. Korolainen R, Ruohoniemi M. Reliability of ultrasonography compared to radiography in revealing intestinal sand accumulations in horses. Equine Vet J 2002;34(5):499-504.
  35. Feary DJ, Hassel DM. Enteritis and colitis in horses. Vet Clin North Am Equine Pract 2006;22(2):437-79.
  36. Husted L, Andersen MS, Borggaard OK, Houe H, Olsen SN. Risk factors for faecal sand excretion in Icelandic horses. Equine Vet J 2005;37(4):351-5.
  37. Dunkel B, Kapff JE, Naylor RJ, Boston R. Blood lactate concentrations in ponies and miniature horses with gastrointestinal disease. Equine Vet J 2013;45(6):666-70.
  38. Dunkel B, Mason CJ, Chang YM. Retrospective evaluation of the association between admission blood glucose and l-lactate concentrations in ponies and horses with gastrointestinal disease (2008-2016): 545 cases. J Vet Emerg Crit Care 2019;29(4):418-23.
  39. Jensen RB, Danielsen SH, Tauson AH. Body condition score, morphometric measurements and estimation of body weight in mature Icelandic horses in Denmark. Acta Vet Scand 2016;58(Suppl 1):59.
  40. Potter SJ, Bamford NJ, Harris PA, Bailey SR. Prevalence of obesity and owners’ perceptions of body condition in pleasure horses and ponies in south-eastern. Aust Vet J 2016;94(11):427-32.
  41. Crawford SO, Ambrose MS, Hoogeveen RC, Brancati FL, Ballantyne CM, Young JH. Association of lactate with blood pressure before and after rapid weight loss. Am J Hypertens 2008;21(12):1337-42.
  42. Frørup C, Tillisch AL, Jacobsen S, Pihl TH. Plasma L-lactate measured in equines with acute gastrointestinal disease is positively correlated with obesity and equid type (ponies). Proceedings of European College of Equine Internal Medicine Conference, Rome, October 2022 .
  43. Dunkel B, Knowles EJ, Chang YM, Menzies-Gow NJ. Influence of endocrine disease on L-lactate concentrations in blood of ponies. J Vet Int Med 2021;35(3):1582-8.
  44. Dunkel B, Knowles EJ, Chang YM, Menzies-Gow NJ. Correlation between lactate and glucose concentrations and body condition score in healthy horses and ponies. J Vet Int Med 2019;33(5):2267-71.

Citations

This article has been cited 1 times.
  1. Giraldo AF, Carballo R, Serrenho RC, Tran V, Valverde A, Renaud DL, Gomez DE. Association of the type of metabolic acidosis and non-survival of horses with colitis. Can Vet J 2023 Nov;64(11):1044-1050.
    pubmed: 37915775
Subscribe to our newsletter
Join 99,658 horse owners like you who receive our email updates on horse health and nutrition.