Has your horse/pony recently (ie: within the last month) been tested for PPID/Equine Cushing’s? (Regardless of the outcome). The Royal Veterinary College have recently developed a novel health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) tool to aid assessment of equines with PPID and to evaluate factors that impact upon animals with this disease following a standard psychometric process of item identification, selection, and refinement.
Laminitis occurs in approximately 50% of equines with PPID and is the clinical sign anecdotally perceived to have the greatest impact on QoL. Pergolide is prescribed for the treatment of PPID, but its effect on laminitis frequency and QoL has not
been assessed.
The RVC are now undertaking a two-year longitudinal cohort study including UK equines newly diagnosed with PPID that are or are not being treated with pergolide. Owners will be asked to complete a standardised online questionnaire every 3 months which will include assessment of the animal’s QoL using the developed HRQoL tool and recording of details relating to the clinical signs associated with PPID as well as any additional veterinary-related problems. Repeated direct validation visits to a subset of animals will be undertaken.
The results from the research will impact the veterinary profession as well as horse owners and care-givers both in the UK and Worldwide.
