Abstract
Swine pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a significant concern in the swine industry, adversely affecting sow welfare and reproductive performance. Despite being one of the leading non-infectious causes of mortality in recent years, the underlying causes of POP remain poorly understood, and there is limited information regarding its baseline prevalence in the swine industry. POP has been hypothesized to be influenced by multiple factors, including genetics, age, parity (number of previous pregnancies), body condition, and prolonged or difficult farrowing. The Midwest region in the United States is the main swine production region in the US, offering a unique setting to study the dynamics of POP. In this study, we investigated the spatio-temporal evolution of POP over the past five years across 25 different states in the Midwest region of the US and parts of Canada. Our dataset comprised reports from 106 farms within a large-scale operation system, covering the period from 2018 to 2023.
We used descriptive statistics to provide regional estimates of the POP prevalence, and assessed the spatial and temporal autocorrelation of POP incidence using correlation analysis and Moran's I. Additionally, space-time scan statistics were used to identify clusters of high POP incidence during the study period. The percentage of farms with an incidence greater than 0 increased from 43.44% in 2018 to 72.41% in 2023. The average incidence per farm also increased from 1.02 in 2018 to 4.54 in 2023. Notably, we identified seven significant clusters during the study period, with relative risk estimates ranging from 2.09 to 12.67.
To facilitate data visualization and ongoing monitoring, we developed an interactive dashboard to present the results and incorporate new reports. To the best of our knowledge, this analysis represents the first comprehensive evaluation of POP's temporal evolution and includes a spatial description of the at-risk population.