The financial crisis of 2008 had effects on veterinary practice, with falling turnovers associated with reluctance of owners to spend money on veterinary care. There were anecdotal reports that fewer horses were undergoing colic surgery. The aims of this study were to document the numbers of horses with colic being referred to, and undergoing surgery and/or euthanasia, at two equine hospitals (a university based equine hospital in the United States [NC State] and a private equine hospital in the UK [Bell Equine]) over a 14‐year period (2004–2017). There was a trend of declining total yearly equine accessions at NC State starting in 2009, followed by an increase starting in 2012. At Bell Equine, total accessions showed an increasing trend from 2004 to 2015, followed by a slight decline in 2016 and 2017. The proportion of equine accessions that were colics varied from around 15% to 20% at both hospitals and did not show any notable variations over the time period studied. Both practices showed a trend of decreasing colic admissions undergoing and recovering from surgery starting from 2007 to 2008. The numbers and percentages of colic admissions that were subjected to euthanasia increased from 2004/2005 to 2014/2015 in both hospitals; there was a greater increase in numbers being subjected to euthanasia at surgery at NC State, compared to a greater increase in numbers being subjected to euthanasia without surgery at Bell Equine. At both hospitals, there was a trend of increasing mean invoice totals over the study period. The results show that there has been a trend of decreasing numbers of horses undergoing surgical treatment for colic since 2004/2005. This is likely to be, at least partly, due to the financial crisis of 2008, although other factors, including the high costs of surgery and the ageing equine population may also be important.

中文翻译：

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评估绞痛的马匹管理趋势：2004–2017

2008年的金融危机对兽医业产生了影响，营业额的下降与所有者不愿在兽医护理上花钱有关。有传闻说，较少的马进行绞痛手术。这项研究的目的是记录两家马医院（美国[NC State]的一家大学马医院和美国马的一家私人马医院）中提到的患有绞痛并接受手术和/或安乐死的马匹的数量。英国（Bell Equine））在14年内（2004年至2017年）。从2009年开始，北卡州立大学的马年总登录量呈下降趋势，而从2012年开始呈上升趋势。在贝尔马学院，2004年至2015年的马总登录量呈增长趋势，随后在2016年和2017年略有下降。在两家医院中，属于绞痛的马种的比例在15％到20％之间变化，并且在所研究的时间段内没有显示任何明显的变化。从2007年到2008年，这两种做法均显示出肠绞痛的入院率有所下降并从手术中恢复的趋势。两家医院2004/2005年至2014/2015年间接受安乐死的绞痛入院的次数和百分比都增加了；在NC State，接受安乐死的人数增加了很多，而在Bell Equine接受未经手术的安乐死的人数增加了。在研究期间，两家医院的平均发票总额都有增加的趋势。结果表明，自2004/2005年以来，接受绞痛手术治疗的马匹数量呈下降趋势。这可能至少部分是由于2008年的金融危机，尽管其他因素，包括高昂的手术费用和马群老化也可能很重要。