AGE-RELATED CARDIAC ARRHYTHMIAS IN CLINICALLY HEALTHY IRANIAN NAJDI GOATS

Abstract

Summary Pourjafar, M., K. Badiei, A. A. Chalmeh, A. R. Sanati, A. Shahbazi, M. Badkobeh & M. H. Bagheri, 2012. Age-related cardiac arrhythmias in clinically healthy Iranian Najdi goats.Bulg. J. Vet. Med. , 15, No 1, 37 −43. The present study was performed to find out the prevalence of cardiac arrhythmias in clinically healthy Iranian Najdi goats at a different age, without any clinical signs of cardiac diseases. The animals (n=118) were assigned into 6 age groups, including 15-day-old (n=17), 2-month-old (n=23), 6-month-old (n=22), 1-year-old (n=11), 3-year-old (n=22) and 5-year-old (n=23). In 53.3% of all studied goats, at least one type of cardiac arrhythmia was seen. Four types of cardiac arrhythmias were detected in this study, including sinus tachycardia, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, sinoatrial block and ventricular premature complex. The proportion of cardiac arrhythmias differed significantly (P<0.05) between 15-day-old animals and all other age groups. Since none of the goats with cardiac arrhythmias showed any clinical signs of heart disease at the time of electrocardiogramme recordings, the arrhythmias observed in this study could be considered as physiological ones.