Prevalence of post-race exertional heat illness in Thoroughbred racehorses and climate conditions at racecourses in Japan

Despite growing recognition of post-race exertional heat illness (EHI) in the horse racing industry, reports on its prevalence are limited. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of post-race EHI and climate conditions at racecourses in Japan. The overall prevalence of EHI from 1999 to 2018 was 0.04% (387 cases for 975,247 starters) in races operated by the Japan Racing Association (JRA). The yearly prevalence has been increasing, exceeding 0.07% in the last four years of the studied period. The overall prevalence in summer (May-September) was 0.086% (352 cases for 409,908 starters). The monthly prevalence varied among the 10 JRA racecourses, which are distributed from latitude 34 to 43°N, ranging from no cases to 0.459%. During summer, prevalence of post-race EHI was high when the mean monthly ambient temperature was high at a racecourse. To evaluate climate conditions, we investigated the wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT, °C) from 9 AM to 5 PM on sunny race days in July and August of 2017 and 2018 at three racecourses with a high prevalence of EHI among the 10 racecourses. The durations of time during which WBGT was between 28 and 33°C at these three courses were 95, 94, and 65% of the minutes measured, respectively. This result indicated that most races on the sunny summer days were held when WBGT was between 28 and 33°C at the three racecourses. These findings could be useful in developing the appropriate countermeasures to be taken during hot weather at each of the studied racecourses.