title: Risk Factors for Equine Gastric Glandular Disease: A Case-Control Study in a Finnish Referral Hospital Population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Equine gastric glandular disease (EGGD) is a term used to classify erosive and ulcerative diseases of the glandular mucosa of the equine stomach. Epidemiologic studies of risk factors for EGGD have not been reported.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine risk factors for EGGD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cases (n = 83) had endoscopic evidence of EGGD; controls (n = 34) included healthy horses and horses with equine squamous gastric disease (ESGD) without EGGD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective case-control study. The data were analyzed by multivariable logistic regression modeling. Analysis was performed on the full dataset. An additional analysis compared horses with glandular lesions (n = 43) against healthy horses (n = 22).
  
  
  RESULTS
  On first analysis, Warmblood breed (OR = 13.9, 95% CI 2.2-90.9, P = .005) and an increasing number of caretakers (OR = 7.3, 95% CI 0.98-55.6, P = .053) were associated with an increased risk of EGGD. On analysis of the subset of data, Warmblood breed (OR = 28.6, 95% CI 2.96-250.0, P = .004) and increasing number of riders (OR = 12.99, 95% CI 0.94-166.7, P = .056) were risk factors. The presence of sand in the colon appeared to have a protective effect against EGGD (OR = 0.195, 95% CI 0.04-1.0, P = .051 for sand versus not having sand).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that Warmbloods are predisposed to EGGD and multiple handlers/riders might increase the risk of EGGD. Identification of risk factors allows speculation on potential pathophysiological mechanisms of EGGD.
authors.affiliation: Veterinary Teaching Hospital, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mönki
authors.affiliation: Department of Companion Animal Clinical Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, South Africa.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hewetson
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: A-M K
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Virtala
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D006736:Horses; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013272:Stomach Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*
keywords: Equine gastric ulceration syndrome; Horse; Management; Stress; Ulcer