Epidemiology of road traffic accidents in cats attending emergency-care practices in the UK.

M Conroy,D Brodbelt,D O'Neill,D Church,A Boag

doi:10.1111/jsap.12941

M Conroy, D Brodbelt + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1111/jsap.12941

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Abstract

To estimate the incidence proportion of road traffic accidents in cats attending emergency out-of-hours clinics in the UK, identify major risk factors for road traffic accident occurrence and for survival to discharge. A retrospective study of a cohort of 33,053 cats in the VetCompass database attending emergency-care practice between January 1, 2012 and February 15, 2014. Incidence proportion was calculated and logistic regression was used to identify risk factors for road traffic accident and survival to discharge following road traffic accident. Incidence proportion was estimated at 4∙2% (95% confidence interval: 4∙0 to 4∙4%). Cats aged 6months to 2years were at increased odds of road traffic accident, as were male cats and crossbred cats. Odds of road traffic accident were highest in the autumn. Spinal injury, abdominal injury and increasing count of injuries were associated with increased odds of death. Road traffic accident is a frequent presentation in emergency-care practice. Identification of risk factors for death within the first 24 hours following a road traffic accident can aid veterinarian and owner decision-making for treatment of cats involved in a road traffic accident.

Highlights

Road traffic accidents (RTA) in cats are a common presentation to primary-care practitioners in the UK, with estimates of between 1.4 and 4.6% of primary-care consultations in cats attributed to RTA (Kolata, 1980; Edney, 1997; Rochlitz, 2003a; O’Neill et al, 2014; McDonald et al, 2017)
This study aimed to evaluate the incidence proportion of RTA in cats presenting to emergency-care practices in the UK, and to investigate risk factors associated with RTA events and with death following RTA
Of the remaining 964 cats, 431 were ruled out as RTA and classified as part of the non-RTA population and the remaining 533 cats were excluded from the risk factor analysis

Summary

Introduction

Road traffic accidents (RTA) in cats are a common presentation to primary-care practitioners in the UK, with estimates of between 1.4 and 4.6% of primary-care consultations in cats attributed to RTA (Kolata, 1980; Edney, 1997; Rochlitz, 2003a; O’Neill et al, 2014; McDonald et al, 2017). This increases to 14.1% in primary emergency out-of-hours veterinary clinics in the UK (Firth et al, 2014). Identified risk factors include age, sex and being out at night (Kolata, 1980; Childs and Ross, 1986; Rochlitz, 2003a, 2003b; McDonald et al, 2017). As RTAs are reported to present most frequently at night (Rochlitz, 2003b), this suggests that using data from emergency-care practice may be the most appropriate for studying the risk factors for RTAs and survival following RTA in cats (Drobatz et al., 2009)

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