The effect of postsurgical pain on attentional processing in horses.
Abstract: To investigate the effect of postsurgical pain on the performance of horses in a novel object and auditory startle task. Methods: Prospective clinical study. Methods: Twenty horses undergoing different types of surgery and 16 control horses that did not undergo surgery. Methods: The interaction of 36 horses with novel objects and a response to an auditory stimulus were measured at two time points; the day before surgery (T1) and the day after surgery (T2) for surgical horses (G1), and at a similar time interval for control horses (G2). Pain and sedation were measured using simple descriptive scales at the time the tests were carried out. Total time or score attributed to each of the behavioural categories was compared between groups (G1 and G2) for each test and between tests (T1 and T2) for each group. Results: The median (range) time spent interacting with novel objects was reduced in G1 from 58 (6-367) seconds in T1 to 12 (0-495) seconds in T2 (p=0.0005). In G2 the change in interaction time between T1 and T2 was not statistically significant. Median (range) total auditory score was 7 (3-12) and 10 (1-12) in G1 and G2, respectively, at T1, decreasing to 6 (0-10) in G1 after surgery and 9.5 (1-12) in G2 (p=0.0003 and p=0.94, respectively). There was a difference in total auditory score between G1 and G2 at T2 (p=0.0169), with the score being lower in G1 than G2. Conclusions: Postsurgical pain negatively impacts attention towards novel objects and causes a decreased responsiveness to an auditory startle test. In horses, tasks demanding attention may be useful as a biomarker of pain.
Copyright © 2017 Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists and American College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia. All rights reserved.
Publication Date: 2017-05-05 PubMed ID: 28821424DOI: 10.1016/j.vaa.2016.07.010Google Scholar: Lookup
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- Journal Article
Summary
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The research article explores how postsurgical pain impacts a horse’s attentional processing as assessed by two tasks: a novel object interaction test and an auditory startle test. The study found that postsurgical pain in horses can negatively affect their attention towards new objects and reduce their responsiveness to auditory stimuli, suggesting that attention-demanding tasks could be used to indicate pain in horses.
Research Methodology
- The study employed a prospective clinical design. The subjects included 20 horses that underwent different surgical procedures and 16 control horses that did not undergo surgery. The 36 horses were then grouped into two categories: the surgical group (G1) and the control group (G2).
- The central focus of the study was to explore how the horses interacted with new objects and measure the horses’ response to an auditory stimulus at two time points. The first time point (T1) was the day before the surgery and the second (T2) was the day after the surgery for group G1. An analogous interval was defined for control group G2.
- During these tests, pain levels and sedation in horses were observed and recorded using simple descriptive scales. The outcomes attributed to different behavioral domains were then compared among the groups (G1 and G2) for each test and across tests (T1 and T2) within each group.
Results Analysis
- The median duration of interaction with new objects reduced substantially in group G1 (surgical group) from T1 to T2 (from 58 seconds to 12 seconds). However, such a significant change in interaction time was not seen in group G2 (control group).
- The median auditory scores decreased in G1 but remained almost the same in G2 from T1 to T2. Additionally, the total auditory scores were compared between G1 and G2 at T2, with G1’s score being lower than G2’s.
Conclusion
- Based on the results, the study concludes that postsurgical pain has a negative effect on a horse’s attention towards new objects and their response to auditory stimuli. This suggests that tasks requiring horses’ attention could be potentially employed as biomarkers for detecting pain in horses.
Cite This Article
APA
Dodds L, Knight L, Allen K, Murrell J.
(2017).
The effect of postsurgical pain on attentional processing in horses.
Vet Anaesth Analg, 44(4), 933-942.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaa.2016.07.010 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Bristol, Langford, UK.
- School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Bristol, Langford, UK.
- School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Bristol, Langford, UK.
- School of Veterinary Sciences, University of Bristol, Langford, UK. Electronic address: Jo.Murrell@bristol.ac.uk.
MeSH Terms
- Acoustic Stimulation / veterinary
- Animals
- Attention
- Case-Control Studies
- Female
- Horse Diseases / psychology
- Horse Diseases / surgery
- Horses / psychology
- Horses / surgery
- Male
- Pain Measurement / veterinary
- Pain, Postoperative / psychology
- Pain, Postoperative / veterinary
Citations
This article has been cited 1 times.- Trindade PHE, Taffarel MO, Luna SPL. Spontaneous Behaviors of Post-Orchiectomy Pain in Horses Regardless of the Effects of Time of Day, Anesthesia, and Analgesia.. Animals (Basel) 2021 May 31;11(6).
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