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Prevalence and clinical importance of heart murmurs in racehorses

N G Kriz1, D R Hodgson, R J Rose

  • 1Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
|May 9, 2000
PubMed

Insights

Heart murmurs are common in Thoroughbred racehorses, with most not impacting performance. This study found 81.1% of horses had murmurs, but race records showed no significant association with performance.

Area of Science:

  • Veterinary Cardiology
  • Equine Sports Medicine

Background:

  • Heart murmurs are frequently detected in horses.
  • Understanding their prevalence and clinical significance in Thoroughbred racehorses is crucial for performance evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the prevalence of various heart murmurs in Thoroughbred racehorses.
  • To assess the association between heart murmurs and race performance.

Main Methods:

  • A clinical and retrospective study involving 846 Thoroughbred racehorses.
  • Cardiac auscultation was performed, with Doppler echocardiography in a subset of horses.
  • Race records of 753 horses were analyzed for performance associations.

Main Results:

  • Heart murmurs were detected in 81.1% of horses via auscultation.
  • Systolic murmurs over the pulmonary and aortic valve areas were most prevalent.
  • No significant association was found between heart murmurs and race performance.

Conclusions:

  • Heart murmurs are a common finding in Thoroughbred racehorses.
  • The majority of detected murmurs do not appear to be clinically significant or impact performance.
Abstract

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