title: Methods and Variables Associated with the Risk of Septic Arthritis Following Intra-Articular Injections in Horses: A Survey of Veterinarians.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine common methods for intra-articular injections and variables associated with the risk of septic arthritis following intra-articular injection in the horse.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Equine veterinarians.
  
  
  METHODS
  A link to an online survey was distributed to equine practitioners in 2014. Responses for descriptive data were tabulated. Data on infection rates obtained from medical records were analyzed. Variables associated with the risk of septic arthritis were determined using χ2or Fisher's exact tests and logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Common current methods for intra-articular injections were determined from 241 surveys. Sixty-four of 241 surveys (26.6%) contained data with numbers of joints injected and number of infections obtained from review of medical records. Eight different injection methods were used by more than 2/3 of responding veterinarians. A total of 67 out of 319,760 injected joints reported became septic following injection, giving an incidence of 2.10 septic joints per 10,000 intra-articular injections. Based on multivariate analysis, infection rates were significantly lower when veterinarians prepared their own injection sites (OR=0.10) and had <20 years of practice experience (OR=0.025), whereas infection rates were significantly higher when hair was removed at the injection site (OR=19.70).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a low incidence of septic arthritis following intra-articular injection and a large number of injection methods reported by responding veterinarians. The low reported incidence of infection may be related to the large number of practitioners frequently using common methods.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Gillespc@purdue.edu.
authors.forename: Caroline C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Gillespie
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.
authors.forename: Stephen B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.affiliation: Department of Comparative Pathobiology College of Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.
authors.forename: George E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Moore
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001170:Arthritis, Infectious / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006736:Horses; D015994:Incidence; D007270:Injections, Intra-Articular / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D018634:Veterinarians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data