Abstract

Simple SummaryAcute abdominal pain is a major cause for emergency treatment in horses and associated with a high stress level leading to an increased serum cortisol concentration. Stress can also be assessed by analyzing the heart rate variability (HRV). We investigated whether the stress level was different between horses with different causes of abdominal pain and, therefore, demanding a different treatment strategy. Heart rate, its variability in the time domain analyses, and cortisol level indicated a decrease in the stress level the day after admission and the day of discharge from the hospital in comparison to admission for both conservatively and surgically treated patients. However, such changes, over time, were not seen in horses that were euthanized during the hospitalization. Furthermore, the difference in the parameters measured between horses that were eventually euthanized and those that survived was best visible the day after admission. Therefore, we concluded that HRV can give further important information on the stress level in horses with colic and might be helpful in assessing possible outcome. However, further studies are required to assess the validity of HRV analyses in horses with colic.Heart rate variability (HRV) is a noninvasive technique to detect changes in the autonomous nervous system. It has rarely been investigated in horses with colic. Therefore, the objective was to assess the evolution of HRV parameters and cortisol concentrations in horses with colic. The 43 horses included in this study were categorized into three groups according to the treatment (1, surgical; 2, conservative; 3, euthanized). The HRV and laboratory variables were measured at admission (T1), the day after admission (T2), and at discharge (T3) and compared between groups and over time with an ANOVA with Bonferroni correction. Relationships between the HRV parameters themselves and the laboratory variables was assessed by Pearson correlation coefficients. Evolution of the heart rate (HR) over time, mean normal to normal R intervals (meanNN) and cortisol concentrations indicate a decreased sympathetic stimulation over time in group 1 and 2, in contrast to group 3. For group 3, the meanNN and HR differed significantly to group 2 at T1 and to group 1 and 2 at T2. Treatment induced a change in the HRV and cortisol response in horses managed conservatively or surgically but not in horses that required euthanasia. However, further studies are required to assess the validity of HRV analyses in horses with colic.

Highlights

  • Acute abdominal pain caused by gastrointestinal tract diseases in horses represents a frequent emergency in equine medicine and, depending on the cause of the colic, can be associated with a guarded to poor prognosis [1,2]

  • In our study, there was no obvious advantage of the frequency domain analysis over the time domain analysis, as the evolution over time was less consistent, even if group 2 at T1 had significantly different values than the other two groups for high frequency (HF), low frequency (LF), and for LF/HF

  • As there are so many factors that influence the heart rate variability (HRV), it is essential to standardize the registration environment, handling, and drugs applied as much as possible. Even with this many influencing factors present, we still could demonstrate that treatment induced a change in the HRV and cortisol response in horses managed conservatively or surgically but not in horses that required euthanasia

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Summary

Introduction

Acute abdominal pain (colic) caused by gastrointestinal tract diseases in horses represents a frequent emergency in equine medicine and, depending on the cause of the colic, can be associated with a guarded to poor prognosis [1,2]. Time for the diagnosis and treatment is limited, especially when a surgical intervention is indicated, due to the dynamic progression of the condition. Available research in horses with acute gastrointestinal diseases has focused on investigating laboratory diagnostic variables (e.g., tumor necrosis factor, serum amyloid A, and plasma lactate). Regarding these variables, the goals were to assess the status of the circulatory volume and the damage to the intestinal wall [6,7,8,9,10] to predict the need for surgery or survival. The heart rate variability (HRV) has only rarely been used so far for this purpose [11]

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