Risk Factors for Equine Gastric Glandular Disease: A Case-Control Study in a Finnish Referral Hospital Population.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Equine gastric glandular disease (EGGD) is a term used to classify erosive and ulcerative diseases of the glandular mucosa of the equine stomach. Epidemiologic studies of risk factors for EGGD have not been reported. OBJECTIVE: To determine risk factors for EGGD. ANIMALS: Cases (n = 83) had endoscopic evidence of EGGD; controls (n = 34) included healthy horses and horses with equine squamous gastric disease (ESGD) without EGGD. METHODS: Retrospective case-control study. The data were analyzed by multivariable logistic regression modeling. Analysis was performed on the full dataset. An additional analysis compared horses with glandular lesions (n = 43) against healthy horses (n = 22). RESULTS: On first analysis, Warmblood breed (OR = 13.9, 95% CI 2.2-90.9, P = .005) and an increasing number of caretakers (OR = 7.3, 95% CI 0.98-55.6, P = .053) were associated with an increased risk of EGGD. On analysis of the subset of data, Warmblood breed (OR = 28.6, 95% CI 2.96-250.0, P = .004) and increasing number of riders (OR = 12.99, 95% CI 0.94-166.7, P = .056) were risk factors. The presence of sand in the colon appeared to have a protective effect against EGGD (OR = 0.195, 95% CI 0.04-1.0, P = .051 for sand versus not having sand). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: This study suggests that Warmbloods are predisposed to EGGD and multiple handlers/riders might increase the risk of EGGD. Identification of risk factors allows speculation on potential pathophysiological mechanisms of EGGD.