Science-in-brief: Report on the Global Equine Endocrinology Symposium.

The research article examines the findings of the Global Equine Endocrinology Symposium in January 2020, where researchers and veterinary surgeons met to discuss equine endocrine diseases such as endocrine laminitis, Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID), and Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS). Their discussions covered aspects like diagnosis, management, epidemiology, potential of ID (insulin dysregulation), different impacts on horses, ponies or donkeys, lab testing procedures, and specific focus on PPID.

Main Themes of the Symposium

• The symposium’s focus was on equine endocrinological diseases, ranging from PPID, EMS, to laminitis. The research discussions sought to identify these diseases’ implications, management, and diagnosis techniques.
• Researchers inferred that insulin dysregulation (ID) is often the leading cause to such diseases and particularly linked to laminitis, and the need for assessing ID was agreed upon.
• The connection between horses’ health management and their owners’ or primary vets’ role was also highlighted, showcasing a change over time in perspectives towards handling such cases.

Separation of EMS and PPID

• The symposium attendees generally agreed that while PPID and EMS can occur concurrently, there is a need for a clearer distinction in the clinical diagnosis of the two diseases.
• Research has shown that each condition should be managed separately; this would require understanding the role of ID in laminitis, coupled with distinguishing between PPID and EMS.
• It was suggested that further education would be beneficial to ensure veterinarians are capable of managing these separate issues effectively.

Consideration for Ponies and Donkeys

• There was a consensus that horses and ponies should be considered separately when diagnosing and managing PPID and EMS. This due to epidemiology research providing evidence that ponies are predisposed to EMS at a significantly higher rate than horses.
• Raised at the meeting was also the difference in physiology between horses and humans, the responses to insulin resistance, which was identified as an area requiring further research.

Harmonization of Laboratories

• The researchers emphasized the need for consistency among laboratories regarding the assays employed for ACTH and insulin, and consensus on which are suited best for research or clinical interpretations.
• We find that different labs employ different tests, and care must thus be taken while interpreting published articles to prevent skewed comparisons of values between various assays.

Focus on PPID

• The diagnosis of PPID has been found based on basal ACTH, and therefore, refining the basal ACTH interpretation was a significant research focus.
• Further, discussions about the development of a clinical sign score were also held, indicating that endocrine testing could be more beneficial in future diagnosis processes.