Risk Factors of Clinical and Subclinical Endometritis in Cattle: a Review.

The postpartum period is a critical period in the life of dairy cattle and management of the most important problems and
diseases at an early stage represents the key to successful dairy herd management. Endometritis is one of the most important and
dramatic diseases that disrupt the reproductive performance of cows and reduce the livestock profitability. Because endometritis is
a multifactorial disease and is caused by nonspecific bacteria, determining all the factors that enhance its risk of occurrence is more
important than treating the disease. This review considers the evidence regarding the risk factors for postpartum endometritis in dairy
cattle in an attempt to explain the causality between each risk factor and both clinical and subclinical endometritis. The present article
will discuss the importance of determining the risk factors of endometritis that must be considered for the treatment of cows. For
example, antibiotics must be associated with improvement of the rations in the case of nutritional deficit and metabolic problems.
Furthermore, these risk factors represent an alternative to treatment by including them in an adequate preventive strategy to master at
least the most important risk factor to limit the prevalence and severity of endometritis. We conclude that some factors are specific for
one form of endometritis and some others are common between clinical and subclinical endometritis, but all of them make the disease
more severe and frequent.