Journal watch23 April 2023
Author(s): Tokawa, P.K.A., Baccarin, R.Y.A. and Zanotto, G.
Published in: Equine Veterinary Education
Date: January 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/eve.13757
Type of access: Requires membership/payment
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Our summary
Tokawa, P.K.A., Baccarin, R.Y.A. and Zanotto, G. (2023) Systematic review of the association between intrasynovial corticosteroid use and laminitis—What is the evidence? Equine Veterinary Education, 35 (5), pp. 265– 270.
The aim of this systematic review was to examine the published evidence relating to the incidence of laminitis in horses following the use of intrasynovial corticosteroids.
Published papers were identified following a literature search carried out in 2022 on three scientific databases. Following screening four studies were included in the systematic review, all of which were observational studies – two were retrospective cohort studies, one included both a retrospective and prospective cohort, and the fourth was a case series. In one study the corticosteroid was administered via the intrasynovial route alone, whilst the others involved several administration routes.
Three of the four studies were classified as high risk of bias using the using the methodological index for non-randomised studies (MINORS) tool mainly due to their retrospective design and missing or incomplete information.
The reported incidence of laminitis in horses following intrasynovial application in the studies was low and similar to the controls when these were included.
Limitations include the limited number of studies available regarding the incidence of laminitis in horses treated with intrasynovial corticosteroids, and that the quality of evidence in the available studies was weak.
Take home
This systematic review showed there is currently a lack of high quality evidence on the incidence of laminitis in horses following the use of intrasynovial corticosteroids. The evidence which is available suggests that there is no association between intrasynovial corticosteroid injection and laminitis in horses without concurrent risk factors.
The following may also be of interest
- Potter, K., Stevens, K. and Menzies-Gow, N. (2019) Prevalence of and risk factors for acute laminitis in horses treated with corticosteroids. Veterinary Record, 185 (3), p. 82 https://dx.doi.org/10.1136/vr.105378
An inFOCUS summary of this article is available - McGowan, C. (2016) No evidence that therapeutic systemic corticosteroid administration is associated with laminitis in adult horses without underlying endocrine or severe systemic disease. Veterinary Evidence, 1 (1). https://doi.org/10.18849/ve.v1i1.12
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