Key result
Between 2009 and 2019, the overall fatal injury rate in thoroughbreds was 1.78 per 1000 starts, with variations observed by racing surface, distance, and horse age.
Why the study?
User-friendly cardiac monitors are needed for large-scale investigations of arrhythmias associated with sudden exercise-associated death in horses.
Do wearable cardiac monitors provide accurate exercising ECG and heart rate data compared to a telemetry unit in horses?
Observational (n=3,689,607)
Do wearable cardiac monitors provide accurate exercising ECG and heart rate data compared to a telemetry unit in horses?
Wearable cardiac monitors, particularly the Polar Equine device, can yield diagnostic-quality exercising ECGs in horses, facilitating large-scale investigations of exercise-associated arrhythmias.
App-derived HRmax underestimates reference values; leaves open wearable reliability for exercise testing in small cohorts.
Exercise associated deaths (EADs) in horses are a problem for the equestrian industry. Sudden death (SD) is responsible for approximately 20% of EADs. The underlying cause of SD is suspected to be cardiovascular disease but often cannot be determined post-mortem. User-friendly cardiac monitors are needed for large scale investigations of arrhythmias associated with SD in horses. We hypothesised that novel wearable devices would provide exercising electrocardiograms (ECGs) of sufficient diagnostic quality for this purpose. Diagnostic quality of ECGs generated by two wearable devices (W2nd ™ and Polar Equine ™ ) were compared to simultaneous recordings with a telemetry unit (Televet ™ ) in 5 Thoroughbreds completing 43 separate submaximal exercise tests on a high-speed treadmill. Maximal heart rate (HR max ) generated by mobile applications (HR maxapp ), HR max after manual correction (HR maxcorr ), percentage of diagnostic ECGs (%diag) at the gallop, and overall quality assessed by visual analogue scale (VAS) were assessed by a blinded observer. HR maxcorr did not differ significantly between groups. HR maxapp was significantly lower for W2nd (166.8/min, 95% confidence interval (CI): 160.5-173.1/min) but did not differ significantly between Televet (178.8/min 95% CI: 165.8-191.1/min) and Polar (181.3/min, 95% CI: 174.5-188.1/min). HR maxcorr was accurate and precise in all runs. HR maxapp was within a priori limits of agreement in 16/23 W2nd and 18/19 Polar recordings. %diag was significantly lower (77.1%, 95% CI: 67.4-86.8) for W2nd than Polar (100%, 95% CI: 89.9-110.3). VAS was lower for W2nd (46.2, 95% CI: 35.5-57.0) than Polar (90.6, 25% CI: 79.4-101.9). In conclusion, wearable devices appear to be promising tools for investigation of equine exercising arrhythmias in large-scale studies.
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Haughan et al. (2021) conducted an observational in Fatal injuries in thoroughbred racing (n=3,689,607). Racing conditions (surface, distance, age) was evaluated on Fatal injuries per 1000 starts. Between 2009 and 2019, the overall fatal injury rate in thoroughbreds was 1.78 per 1000 starts, with variations observed by racing surface, distance, and horse age.
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