Abstract
Objectives
To determine the mortality rates associated with equine anaesthesia for elective and
emergency (colic and non-colic) cases in one equine, university teaching hospital
and to investigate the effect of several horse- and anaesthetic-related variables
on anaesthetic recovery quality.
Study design
Retrospective data analysis.
Animals or animal population
In total, 1416 horses undergoing anaesthesia between May 2010 and December 2013.
Methods
Patient information and details of the anaesthetic, recovery period and immediate
complications were extracted from an archiving database. Statistical evaluation of
factors affecting mortality included chi-squared tests and binary logistic regression.
Factors affecting recovery quality were investigated using univariable and multivariable
ordinal logistic regression. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.
Results
Anaesthesia/recovery-related mortality was 1.1% for all cases, 0.9% for elective cases,
1.6% for colics and 0% for non-colic emergencies. Fractures and dislocations accounted
for the majority (71.4%) of deaths. No intra-operative deaths occurred during the
study period. Risk factors for mortality included increasing age and American Society
of Anesthesiologist's (ASA) status but these and other factors were confounded by
‘colic’. Non-fatal complications in the immediate recovery period included postanaesthetic
myopathy/neuropathy and postanaesthetic respiratory obstruction. Recovery quality
was associated with body mass (p = 0.016), ASA status 3 and 4 (p = 0.020 and 0.002, respectively), duration of anaesthesia (p < 0.001) and out-of-hours anaesthesia (p = 0.013). Although recovery quality was also influenced by age and breed-type, these
factors were removed from the final model as age was highly associated with both ASA
status (p < 0.001) and colic surgery (p < 0.001), and breed-type was a determinant of body mass.
Conclusion and clinical relevance
Anaesthetic/recovery-associated mortality was comparable to previously reported figures
except intra-operative deaths were not reported. Fractures remained responsible for
the largest proportion of recovery-associated deaths. Improvements to the recovery
process that can reduce fracture occurrence are still required.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
February 10,
2015
Received:
September 23,
2014
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists and American College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
