title: Prevalence of upper respiratory tract disorders detected with a flexible videoendoscope in thoroughbred racehorses.
abstract: A total of 350 thoroughbred racehorses found clinically as having coughs or abnormal breath sounds underwent endoscopic examination of the upper respiratory tract at rest. As a result, abnormal endoscopic findings were obtained in all horses, demonstrating that thoroughbred racehorses with a clinical abnormality in the respiratory system necessarily had disorders in the upper respiratory tract. Whereas 11 types of disorder were observed, a combination of three different types of disorder were found in the highest frequencies in 3-, 4- and 5-year-old horses (27.8%, 29.2% and 29.7%, respectively). Among 6-year-olds or older horses, those having only one type of disorder accounted for the greatest proportion (47.6%). The prevalence of pharyngeal lymphoid hyperplasia or abnormalities of the epiglottis decreased with age.
authors.affiliation: Equine Research Institute, Japan Racing Association, Tokyo.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hobo
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsuda
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshida
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001999:Bronchoscopy / Q000662:veterinary; D003371:Cough; D004825:Epiglottis / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006736:Horses; D008297:Male; D009919:Orchiectomy; D015995:Prevalence; D012135:Respiratory Sounds; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D014741:Video Recording