2016, Number 1
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Vet Mex 2016; 3 (1)
Level of agreement in the recognition of pain among equine practitioners in Chile
Luna-Fernández D, Yañez-López JM, Tadich-Gallo TA
Language: English/Spanish
References: 30
Page: 1-9
PDF size: 826.49 Kb.
ABSTRACT
Pain is a relevant component of animal welfare, and its appropriate recognition
is essential for the establishment of effective analgesic therapy. The aim
of this study was to determine the level of agreement in the recognition of
pain in equines among veterinarians (equine practitioners). The effects of
gender and age on pain recognition were also studied. The equine practitioners
were asked to use a simple descriptive scale to score 25 digital color
photographs of horses experiencing different painful conditions. The kappa
coefficient for multiple raters was used to determine the degree of agreement.
Descriptive statistics was used to estimate the severity of the pain,
and the Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric test was used to determine the effect
of the rater’s gender and age. Thirty-four equine practitioners replied to the
questionnaire. A poor level of agreement between equine practitioners was
found (global kappa = 0.2871, CI 95% = 0.2032-0.3702); the agreement
was stronger for those painful conditions with higher scores (maximum pain).
No significant differences (P › 0.05) were found for pain scoring in relation
to the practitioner’s age and gender. This study is the first in Chile to explore
the level of agreement in the recognition of pain in equines. It emphasizes
the poor level of agreement between equine practitioners in the recognition
of pain, which could compromise the establishment of appropriate analgesic
treatments and result in poor animal welfare. Further studies are required to
determine and promote understanding of the factors affecting veterinarians’
attitudes towards the recognition and management of pain in equine species.
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