Repeatability of subjective evaluation of lameness in horses

Keegan, Kevin G.; Dent, Eric V.; Wilson, David A.; Janicek, John C.; Kramer, Joanne; LaCarrubba, Alison M.; Walsh, Donald M.; Cassells, M. W.; Esther, T. M.; Schiltz, Paul; Frees, Karl E.; Wilhite, C. Leigh; Clark, J. M.; Pollitt, C. C.; Shaw, Raymond A.; Norris, T.

doi:10.2746/042516409x479568

Cited by 222 publications

(235 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…We found a higher overall agreement for live scoring of ataxia compared to previous studies assessing lameness scoring in a live setting using a 6‐point scale (AAEP) 8. In normal horses or those with subtle ataxia, agreement on the ataxia grading was worse than found in horses with low‐grade lameness 8.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 70%

“…In normal horses or those with subtle ataxia, agreement on the ataxia grading was worse than found in horses with low‐grade lameness 8. Similarly, there was worse agreement between raters for their assessment of the moderate to high‐grade ataxia group, compared to assessment of horses with higher grades of lameness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Previous studies into agreement on assessment of lameness on the 6‐point scale8, 40, 41 have a poorer agreement because they are video‐based. In a study of objective kinematic assessment of ataxic horses,15 poor agreement between live and video scoring was attributed to the different conditions for live compared to video assessment; however, our results suggest that it was more likely caused by poor live agreement and low test–retest reliability.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is expectation bias in gait and lameness assessment of horses7 despite good agreement between observers where a lameness score (AAEP, 0–5) was >1.5/5 (κ = 0.86), or low agreement (κ = 0.23), for lameness grades ≤1.5/5 8. Low agreement is especially of concern when additional testing options are limited and when decisions are made relevant to human safety or animal euthanasia.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rater Agreement on Gait Assessment during Neurologic Examination of Horses

Olsen

Dunkel

Barker

et al. 2014

Veterinary Internal Medicne

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BackgroundReproducible and accurate recognition of presence and severity of ataxia in horses with neurologic disease is important when establishing a diagnosis, assessing response to treatment, and making recommendations that might influence rider safety or a decision for euthanasia.ObjectivesTo determine the reproducibility and validity of the gait assessment component in the neurologic examination of horses.AnimalsTwenty‐five horses referred to the Royal Veterinary College Equine Referral Hospital for neurological assessment (n = 15), purchased (without a history of gait abnormalities) for an unrelated study (n = 5), or donated because of perceived ataxia (n = 5).MethodsUtilizing a prospective study design; a group of board‐certified medicine (n = 2) and surgery (n = 2) clinicians and residents (n = 2) assessed components of the equine neurologic examination (live and video recorded) and assigned individual and overall neurologic gait deficit grades (0–4). Inter‐rater agreement and assessment‐reassessment reliability were quantified using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC).ResultsThe ICCs of the selected components of the neurologic examination ranged from 0 to 0.69. “Backing up” and “recognition of mistakes over obstacle” were the only components with an ICC > 0.6. Assessment‐reassessment agreement was poor to fair. The agreement on gait grading was good overall (ICC = 0.74), but poor for grades ≤ 1 (ICC = 0.08) and fair for ataxia grades ≥ 2 (ICC = 0.43). Clinicians with prior knowledge of a possible gait abnormality were more likely to assign a grade higher than the median grade.Conclusion and Clinical ImportanceClinicians should be aware of poor agreement even between skilled observers of equine gait abnormalities, especially when the clinical signs are subtle.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 70%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rater Agreement on Gait Assessment during Neurologic Examination of Horses

Olsen

Dunkel

Barker

et al. 2014

Veterinary Internal Medicne

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“…point in time. Subjective lameness detection systems are designed to categorize lameness expressed while the animal is walking and have been developed for cows (Manson and Leaver, 1988), dogs (Quinn et al, 2007), sheep (Welsh et al, 1993;Kaler et al 2009), horses (Keegan et al, 2010) and finishing pigs (Rothschild and Christian, 1988;Main et al, 2000). The scoring systems used in the livestock industries have been implemented so that caretakers can quickly and affordably quantify lameness prevalence in the herd on any particular day.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using classification trees to detect induced sow lameness with a transient model

Abell

Johnson²,

Karriker³

et al. 2014

Animal

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Feet and legs issues are some of the main causes for sow removal in the US swine industry. More timely lameness detection among breeding herd females will allow better treatment decisions and outcomes. Producers will be able to treat lame females before the problem becomes too severe and cull females while they still have salvage value. The objective of this study was to compare the predictive abilities and accuracies of weight distribution and gait measures relative to each other and to a visual lameness detection method when detecting induced lameness among multiparous sows. Developing an objective lameness diagnosis algorithm will benefit animals, producers and scientists in timely and effective identification of lame individuals as well as aid producers in their efforts to decrease herd lameness by selecting animals that are less prone to become lame. In the early stages of lameness, weight distribution and gait are impacted. Lameness was chemically induced for a short time period in 24 multiparous sows and their weight distribution and walking gait were measured in the days following lameness induction. A linear mixed model was used to determine differences between measurements collected from day to day. Using a classification tree analysis, it was determined that the mean weight being placed on each leg was the most predictive measurement when determining whether the leg was sound or lame. The classification tree's predictive ability decreased as the number of days post-lameness induction increased. The weight distribution measurements had a greater predictive ability compared with the gait measurements. The error rates associated with the weight distribution trees were 29.2% and 31.3% at 6 days post-lameness induction for front and rear injected feet, respectively. For the gait classification trees, the error rates were 60.9% and 29.8% at 6 days post-lameness induction for front and rear injected feet, respectively. More timely lameness detection can improve sow lifetime productivity as well as animal welfare.

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