Endocrinology

Survey: You can help increase the understanding of endocrine diseases

By Marie Rosenthal MS

As understanding of equine endocrinology has expanded, the incidence of equine endocrine or metabolic diseases appears to be increasing. Does this increase represent more cases, or just better recognition?

This is just 1 question that Erica Macon, MS, PAS, PhD, wants to answer in a survey she and her colleagues are conducting among horse owners, veterinarians and veterinary technicians. Any adult 18 years or older who owns at least 1 horse and who resides in the United States can take the survey.

Since the ACVIM released its first consensus statement in 2010 on equine endocrine/metabolic diseases, the field has grown, according to Dr. Macon, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Animal
Science at Texas A&M University. More is known about pituitary pars intermediate dysfunction (PPID), insulin dysregulation and equine metabolic syndrome. “We’ve developed the terminology as well as diagnostics, and we’ve started seeing a lot more of these cases, but we can’t really tell if that’s because we’ve just gotten better about recognizing them or if endocrine disease is increasing in horses.”

Many things in the field have also changed. Cushing’s disease is now called PPID, for example, and there is a recognition that many endocrine diseases are separate and distinct. “We used to think that Cushing’s disease was the cause of insulin resistance,” she said. “Now we know they’re separate diseases. People—even veterinarians—still refer to insulin dysregulation as Cushing’s disease, when in fact it is not [Cushing’s disease].”

The survey has 3 parts. In the first part, it asks for demographic information, followed by questions about the survey respondent’s knowledge of metabolic diseases. Finally, participants with horses with endocrine diseases will be asked additional questions about how their horses are managed. If the horses are healthy, they will stop the survey after the first 2 parts.

“If you have a horse that does have endocrine disease, you keep going to the last part of the survey,” Dr. Macon told the Modern Equine Vet. “The last part of the survey asks, ‘When did this horse develop metabolic disease?’ ‘How did you know?’ ‘What tests did you run?’ ‘What changed after they developed metabolic disease?’ ‘How do you feed them?’ ‘Do you test regularly to see and kind of track their disease?’ ‘How many times have they had laminitis?’”

All questions are designed to provide a better understanding of how horses with various endocrine diseases are diagnosed and managed. The survey is open to anyone who owns a horse, she said. Her team hopes to reach at least 2,000 Americans, everyone can take the survey – individual horse owners, industry professionals, managers of horse facilities, etc., to take the survey.

They want to close the survey on June 30, but that date will depend on the response rate.

“The goal is to get an understanding of how many we do have in the United States, as well as the kind of information that owners and veterinarians need about these diseases,” Dr. Macon said. “I think we’re at close to 500 respondents or a little bit over. I was hoping for at least 2,000 to 3,000 respondents, so we have a long way to go.

“I want to get everybody’s perspective because I think everybody learns from different people, or maybe they learn from a Facebook page. Sometimes those Facebook pages aren’t accurate,” she said.

Knowing how much people understand about endocrine diseases and where they get their information can help people like Dr. Macon develop better educational materials, which should provide insights to improve the health and welfare of equids. MeV

Take the survey here: https://tamuag.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4O76szgBDEXBfqS