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Animals : an open access journal from MDPI2016; 6(8); 47; doi: 10.3390/ani6080047

Using the Horse Grimace Scale (HGS) to Assess Pain Associated with Acute Laminitis in Horses (Equus caballus).

Abstract: Acute laminitis is a common equine disease characterized by intense foot pain, both acutely and chronically. The Obel grading system is the most widely accepted method for describing the severity of laminitis by equine practitioners, however this method requires movement (walk and trot) of the horse, causing further intense pain. The recently developed Horse Grimace Scale (HGS), a facial-expression-based pain coding system, may offer a more effective means of assessing the pain associated with acute laminitis. The aims of this study were: to investigate whether HGS can be usefully applied to assess pain associated with acute laminitis in horses at rest, and to examine if scoring HGS using videos produced similar results as those obtained from still images. Ten horses, referred as acute laminitis cases with no prior treatment, were included in the study. Each horse was assessed using the Obel and HGS (from images and videos) scales: at the admission (before any treatment) and at seven days after the initial evaluation and treatment. The results of this study suggest that HGS is a potentially effective method to assess pain associated with acute laminitis in horses at rest, as horses showing high HGS scores also exhibited higher Obel scores and veterinarians classified them in a more severe painful state. Furthermore, the inter-observer reliability of the HGS total score was good for both still images and video evaluation. There was no significant difference in HGS total scores between the still images and videos, suggesting that there is a possibility of applying the HGS in clinical practice, by observing the horse for a short time. However, further validation studies are needed prior to applying the HGS in a clinical setting.
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Publication Date: 2016-08-03 PubMed ID: 27527224PubMed Central: PMC4997272DOI: 10.3390/ani6080047Google Scholar: Lookup
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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 focuses on using the Horse Grimace Scale (HGS) as a method to gauge the intensity of pain in horses stricken by acute laminitis, a prevalent equine illness. The research implies that the HGS technique could provide beneficial results when compared to the conventional Obel grading system.

Understanding Acute Laminitis and Pain Assessment

  • Acute laminitis is a disease that hits horses, inducing acute and chronic foot pain. It’s normally gauged by veterinarians via the Obel grading system.
  • The Obel system though, demands movement of the horse for assessment, which can add to the pain the animal already endures.
  • Addressing this problem, scientists have recently established the Horse Grimace Scale (HGS), a pain coding system that relies on the expressions of the horse’s face.

Purpose and Method of the Study

  • This study’s objective was two-fold: Examine whether HGS is a reliable method to measure pain related to acute laminitis when horses are at rest, and explore if HGS scores derived from video footage matched those taken from static images.
  • The study involved ten horses suffering from acute laminitis. Veterinary evaluations relied on both HGS and Obel scales at admission and seven days post-treatment.

Results of the Study

  • The study indicated that the HGS could be a valid procedure for measuring pain linked to acute laminitis in resting horses – horses with higher HGS scores also had higher Obel scores and were classified by veterinarians as more severely pained.
  • Inter-observer reliability for the total HGS score was found to be good, irrespective of whether static images or video footage was used. This means that different observers largely agreed with the scoring, which adds to the validity of the HGS.
  • No significant difference was spotted between HGS scores collected from static images and videos, suggesting that the HGS could be used in a clinical setting.

Further Considerations

  • Despite these promising results, the study concludes that additional validation research is required before introducing the HGS method in a clinical context.

Cite This Article

APA
Dalla Costa E, Stucke D, Dai F, Minero M, Leach MC, Lebelt D. (2016). Using the Horse Grimace Scale (HGS) to Assess Pain Associated with Acute Laminitis in Horses (Equus caballus). Animals (Basel), 6(8), 47. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani6080047

Publication

Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
ISSN: 2076-2615
NlmUniqueID: 101635614
Country: Switzerland
Language: English
Volume: 6
Issue: 8
PII: 47

Researcher Affiliations

Dalla Costa, Emanuela
  • Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Milan, Milan 20122, Italy. emanuela.dallacosta@unimi.it.
Stucke, Diana
  • Havelland Equine Clinic, Beetzsee 14778, Germany. diana.stucke@pferdeklinik-havelland.de.
Dai, Francesca
  • Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Milan, Milan 20122, Italy. francesca.dai@unimi.it.
Minero, Michela
  • Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Milan, Milan 20122, Italy. michela.minero@unimi.it.
Leach, Matthew C
  • School of Agriculture, Food & Rural Development, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK. Matthew.Leach@newcastle.ac.uk.
Lebelt, Dirk
  • Havelland Equine Clinic, Beetzsee 14778, Germany. lebelt@pferdeklinik-havelland.de.

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Citations

This article has been cited 44 times.
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