The Prevalence of Ocular Diseases in Arabian Horses in Poland

Reasons for performing study Ocular diseases in horses often require long-lasting and costly therapies. Without proper treatment they may lead to partial or full blindness, excluding horses from intended use, and thus pose a serious veterinary and economic problem. Objectives No epidemiological data on equine ocular pathologies in Poland was available. The aim of this study was to evaluate their type and prevalence in pure-bred Arabian horses. Study design The study involved 615 horses (15% of Arabian population) bred and owned by 3 Arabian state stud farms in Poland. All horses underwent standard clinical and ophthalmic examination and medical history from the previous 5 years was analysed. Methods The medical history was based on the data from farms’ veterinary archives in the stables and epidemiological interview given by the resident veterinarian. Every horse underwent general clinical and ophthalmic examination. Results The prevalence of ocular diseases was 9.8% (95% CI: 7.7–12.4%). The following pathologies were diagnosed: equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) – prevalence of 5.5% (95% CI: 4.0–7.6%), non-ERU related cataract – 3.3% (95% CI: 1.9–4.7%), post traumatic lesions – 0.8% (95% CI: 0.4–1.9%), glaucoma – one case. Seven horses had one nonvisual eye, one was bilaterally blind. Conclusions Equine recurrent uveitis was the most common ocular disease in this Polish population of Arabian horses. Its prevalence is lower than usually reported in Europe (8–10%) and in the United States (8–25%). However, severe ocular pathologies were observed confirming that they remain an important clinical problem. Ethical animal research: The study was approved by the Local Ethics Committee. Explicit owner informed consent for participation in this study was not stated. Sources of funding: The research was supported by a grant from National Science Centre on the basis of the decision No DEC-2011/03/B/NZ6/04682. Competing interests: None.