de Solis C Navas, Althaus F, Basieux N, Burger D
Swiss Institute of Equine Medicine, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, and Agroscope, Bern, Switzerland.
Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA.
Equine Vet J. 2018 Sep;50(5):644-648. doi: 10.1111/evj.12803. Epub 2018 Feb 5.
Sudden death affects the health of horses, the safety of riders and the public perception of animal welfare during equestrian events.
To describe the signalment, clinical history, sudden death episode, rider injuries and causes of sudden death during exercise or closely thereafter in sport and pleasure riding horses.
Retrospective case series based on an online questionnaire.
An online questionnaire was distributed to the veterinary and equestrian community. Connections of animals reported in the press to have died suddenly were sent the survey. Responses were analysed to obtain information.
Fifty-seven cases met inclusion criteria with enough information to be analysed. The most common discipline was eventing (n = 23, 40.4%), and the most common breed involved was Thoroughbred (n = 23, 40.4%). Forty-one (71.9%) horses collapsed during exercise, and 16 (28.1%) shortly thereafter. Twenty-four (42.1%) horses died during or near the time of competition and 33 (57.9%) during or near the time of training or a pleasure ride. In 16 (28.1%) horses, the cause of death was known or strongly suspected based on a post-mortem result, and a cardiovascular origin was reported in 13 of these 16 cases. Riders were injured in 13 (22.8%) cases, and injuries to their extremities were the most frequent.
There is potential for misdiagnosis and recall and selection bias, and in the absence of data on the total number of horses engaged in equestrian sports and riding, prevalence cannot be calculated.
Sudden death occurred in many types of equestrian sports and in riding horses. Death outside competition was more common suggesting that registries based on reports from official veterinarians underestimate the magnitude of this problem. Rider injuries were not uncommon when ridden horses collapsed and died. A definitive diagnosis for the cause of death was not commonly achieved and cardiovascular origin was the most common where a diagnosis was proposed by survey respondents.
猝死会影响马匹健康、骑手安全以及公众对马术赛事中动物福利的认知。
描述运动马和休闲骑乘马在运动期间或运动后不久猝死的特征、临床病史、猝死事件、骑手受伤情况及猝死原因。
基于在线问卷的回顾性病例系列研究。
向兽医和马术界发放在线问卷。向媒体报道的突然死亡动物的联系人发送调查问卷。对回复进行分析以获取信息。
57例病例符合纳入标准，并有足够信息进行分析。最常见的项目是综合全能马术比赛（n = 23，40.4%），涉及的最常见品种是纯种马（n = 23，40.4%）。41匹（71.9%）马在运动期间倒地，16匹（28.1%）在运动后不久倒地。24匹（42.1%）马在比赛期间或比赛临近结束时死亡，33匹（57.9%）在训练或休闲骑乘期间或临近结束时死亡。16匹（28.1%）马的死亡原因根据尸检结果已知或高度怀疑，其中16例中的13例报告为心血管源性。13例（22.8%）骑手受伤，四肢受伤最为常见。
存在误诊、回忆和选择偏倚的可能性，且由于缺乏参与马术运动和骑乘的马匹总数数据，无法计算患病率。
猝死发生在多种马术运动和骑乘马中。比赛外的死亡更为常见，这表明基于官方兽医报告的登记低估了该问题的严重程度。当骑乘马倒地死亡时，骑手受伤并不罕见。通常无法明确诊断死亡原因，在调查受访者提出诊断的情况下，心血管源性是最常见的原因。
