1. Influence of postoperative pain and use of NSAID on heart rate variability of dairy cows
- Author
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Matti Pastell, Laura Hänninen, Juha Hietaoja, Paula Anttila, Jaakko Mononen, Lilli Frondelius, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Departments of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Production Animal Medicine, Laura Hänninen / Principal Investigator, and Research Centre for Animal Welfare
- Subjects
Ketoprofen ,040301 veterinary sciences ,Postoperative pain ,Cattle Diseases ,nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug ,Pain alleviation ,surgery ,0403 veterinary science ,Random Allocation ,Heart Rate ,Heart rate ,medicine ,Animals ,Heart rate variability ,pain ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,050102 behavioral science & comparative psychology ,Adverse effect ,412 Animal science, dairy science ,Dairy cattle ,Monitoring, Physiologic ,2. Zero hunger ,Pain, Postoperative ,business.industry ,Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal ,05 social sciences ,dairy cattle ,heart rate variability ,04 agricultural and veterinary sciences ,General Medicine ,3. Good health ,farm-animals ,Assessing Pain ,Anesthesia ,Cattle ,Female ,Animal Science and Zoology ,business ,Food Science ,medicine.drug - Abstract
This Research Communication describes the effect of post-operative pain and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) treatment on heart rate variability (HRV) of dairy cows. Postoperative pain in farm animals is often left untreated, and HRV could be a promising tool for assessing pain. The aim of this study was to assess if postoperative state after subcutaneous surgery affects HRV in dairy cows and to determine whether this could be modulated by NSAID. Nine cows were inserted with an implantable electrocardiograph logger. Cows were divided into the NSAID treatment group and the control group. The cows in the NSAID group had higher HRV than the control group, indicating a higher sympathetic activity in control animals, most likely due to untreated post-operative pain. Besides the ethical need for treating pain in production animals, ongoing pain has an adverse effect on animal productivity. Thus post-operative pain alleviation is recommended.
- Published
- 2018