Influence of the anaesthetist´s perception on the evaluation of recovery quality in horses undergoing general anaesthesia
- 1Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
- 2Complutense Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
Abstract
Background
In horses, anaesthetic recovery is evaluated using subjective scales. Previous studies examined the influence of scale type and evaluator-related factors but the impact of operator perception (unconscious bias) has received limited attention.Objectives
To analyse the influence of operator perception on recovery scoring.Methods
Anaesthetic recoveries at an equine hospital (May 2019-May 2023) were assessed in real time (RT) by attending anaesthetists and retrospectively using video recordings (VR) by a single evaluator. Horses aged 1 - 21 years undergoing a single anesthetic procedure with complete video recordings were included. Recovery quality was scored using a simple scale (SS; 1 = excellent to 5 = dangerous) and a detailed scale (DS; 0 = very violent to 5 = no ataxia). RT and VR were compared using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. A secondary analysis included only cases evaluated by the same anaesthetist in both conditions. Exploratory analyses assessed influences of time of day, procedure, anaesthesia duration, number of standing attempts and grouped recovery categories. Analyses were performed using SPSS (IBM) (p < 0.05).Results
Of 262 recoveries, 154 met inclusion criteria. VR scores were significantly worse than RT assessment for both scales [SS: 2 (IQR: 1); DS: 4 (IQR: 1)], including same-evaluator cases [SS: 2 (IQR: 2); DS: 4 (IQR: 1)]. Discrepancies persisted across most subgroups but were not observed in unsatisfactory recoveries, or for DS scores during nighttime or horses presenting ≥3 standing attempts.Conclusions
Anaesthetists tend to assign more favourable scores when evaluating their own patients in RT, suggesting an optimism bias.
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BibTeX
@article{benaventesanchez2026influence,
title = {{Influence of the anaesthetist´s perception on the evaluation of recovery quality in horses undergoing general anaesthesia}},
author = {Leire Benavente-Sánchez and Marta Villalba-Díez and Carla Jaen-Garcia and Isabel Santiago-Llorente and María Villalba-Orero},
journal = {Veterinary and animal science},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.vas.2026.100899},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13718388},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Influence of the anaesthetist´s perception on the evaluation of recovery quality in horses undergoing general anaesthesia
AU - Leire Benavente-Sánchez
AU - Marta Villalba-Díez
AU - Carla Jaen-Garcia
AU - Isabel Santiago-Llorente
AU - María Villalba-Orero
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/15
JO - Veterinary and animal science
DO - 10.1016/j.vas.2026.100899
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13718388
AB - Background In horses, anaesthetic recovery is evaluated using subjective scales. Previous studies examined the influence of scale type and evaluator-related factors but the impact of operator perception (unconscious bias) has received limited attention.Objectives To analyse the influence of operator perception on recovery scoring.Methods Anaesthetic recoveries at an equine hospital (May 2019-May 2023) were assessed in real time (RT) by attending anaesthetists and retrospectively using video recordings (VR) by a single evaluator. Horses aged 1 - 21 years undergoing a single anesthetic procedure with complete video recordings were included. Recovery quality was scored using a simple scale (SS; 1 = excellent to 5 = dangerous) and a detailed scale (DS; 0 = very violent to 5 = no ataxia). RT and VR were compared using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. A secondary analysis included only cases evaluated by the same anaesthetist in both conditions. Exploratory analyses assessed influences of time of day, procedure, anaesthesia duration, number of standing attempts and grouped recovery categories. Analyses were performed using SPSS (IBM) (p < 0.05).Results Of 262 recoveries, 154 met inclusion criteria. VR scores were significantly worse than RT assessment for both scales [SS: 2 (IQR: 1); DS: 4 (IQR: 1)], including same-evaluator cases [SS: 2 (IQR: 2); DS: 4 (IQR: 1)]. Discrepancies persisted across most subgroups but were not observed in unsatisfactory recoveries, or for DS scores during nighttime or horses presenting ≥3 standing attempts.Conclusions Anaesthetists tend to assign more favourable scores when evaluating their own patients in RT, suggesting an optimism bias.
SN - 2451-943X
ER -