Equine Practices To Receive A Bespoke Review Of Their PPID Cases Through Talk About Laminitis
8 years ago 
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With over 600 practices participating each year, Boehringer Ingelheim’s ‘Talk About Laminitis’ (TAL) disease awareness initiative has been one of the most popular schemes in equine veterinary practice since it was introduced in 2012.
Launched to raise awareness of the link between laminitis and Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID) the TAL scheme provides complimentary ACTH tests to help veterinary surgeons rule PPID in or out when investigating laminitis cases.
Analysis of the data from this initiative gathered over the last four years has revealed that nearly 60% of the equines tested were PPID positive based on seasonally adjusted reference ranges, with the median age of diagnosis remaining consistent at 18 years1. However, the data shows that it is still important to keep PPID in mind in horses under 15 if there are suspicious clinical signs, as over 40% of horses between 10 and 15 years of age tested were positive for PPID1.
“The extensive data from over 36,000 equines tested for PPID has provided us with a valuable insight into the horses, ponies and donkeys most susceptible to PPID and the clinical signs associated with it,” explains Boehringer’s equine technical manager, Helen Shreeve. “On statistical analysis the most significant clinical signs associated with PPID were: laminitis, hypertrichosis, muscle wastage and supra-orbital fat1.”
In addition to this analysis of the national data collected through the TAL initiative, the individual data from the 600 participating practices has been collated into bespoke reports. These simple and easy-to-use documents will allow vets to review the horses that their practice has tested for PPID through the TAL scheme since 2012.
”As PPID is a progressive disease, the bespoke reports will enable practices to identify cases that they may want to follow up and re-test,” comments Helen Shreeve. “We know that there is a 21% increase in risk of PPID for every year of age over 152, so it’s definitely worth re-testing patients that were previously PPID negative but who continue to exhibit suspicious clinical signs.”
Boehringer’s support of PPID management doesn’t stop at initial diagnosis and last year TAL Care & Connect was launched. This complimentary web-based service has been designed to support both vets and owners through the challenges associated with the lifelong management of PPID. It provides a secure site for ACTH test results to be stored alongside owner diary entries so that a horse’s PPID history can be viewed ‘at a glance’. The site sends automatic reminders to owners when a monitoring test may be appropriate and contains additional owner resources such as a downloadable owner’s guide to PPID and the ability to submit questions about the disease.
TAL Care & Connect has received support from leading expert in equine endocrinology, Professor Catherine McGowan, who points out that: “The diagnosis of PPID is just the first step in managing that horse for the rest of its life. Veterinary surgeons need to repeat ACTH measurements every six months and TAL Care & Connect helps to communicate this to owners.”
Care and Connect membership is automatically opened to horse owners who take advantage of the complimentary* TAL ACTH testing scheme. Vets can also offer this aftercare service to all owners of previously diagnosed PPID cases.
The 2016 Talk About Laminitis disease awareness initiative, which is supported by Redwings, The British Horse Society and World Horse Welfare, will run from the beginning of June until the end of October offering complimentary ACTH laboratory tests* to horse owners who are concerned about PPID in their horses. Horse owners can find out more and obtain their free ACTH voucher code at www.talkaboutlaminitis.co.uk.
Redwings head of veterinary and care and senior veterinary surgeon Nicky Jarvis says: “We are supportive of anything that encourages more awareness of PPID and laminitis, and the Talk About Laminitis initiative continues to do sterling work in awareness-raising but also crucially in increasing the information we have about the disease and related conditions. The new Care and Connect service is a great support to owners and veterinary surgeons, allowing us all to work together to not only diagnose PPID but also to manage the condition throughout the horse’s life.”
“We cannot stress enough to horse-owners the importance of regular monitoring,” comments Gemma Stanford, head of welfare at The British Horse Society. “Our welfare officers are only too often responding to cases where chronic laminitis is suspected. We encourage all horse owners, who are concerned about PPID in their horses, to take up this fantastic complimentary offer.”
World Horse Welfare Deputy Chief Executive, Tony Tyler, adds: “PPID (Cushing’s disease) is a significant risk factor for developing the devastating disease of laminitis, but thanks to this initiative, more cases can be identified early and provided with more treatment options and support for both horses and their owners.
For further information please contact your local Boehringer territory manager or visit www.talkaboutlaminitis.co.uk.
* Cost of laboratory test
References:
1 Boehringer Ingelheim Internal data: TAL data analysis 2016
2 McGowan, T.W. “Aged Horse Health, Management and Welfare.” PhD Thesis, School of Animal Studies: Faculty of Natural Resources, Agriculture and Veterinary Science, University of Queensland. 2009.
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