Collaboration as a key feature of equine evidence-based research: a laminitis case study.
Authors: C. Wylie
Journal: Verbum Et Ecclesia
Summary
# Laminitis Research: Building Evidence Through Collaboration Despite widespread concern about laminitis in horses, fundamental knowledge gaps persist regarding its true prevalence, clinical manifestations and which animals are most vulnerable. Wylie's eight-year research programme, funded by World Horse Welfare, systematically addressed these gaps through a carefully sequenced approach: initial systematic reviews of laminitis frequency and risk factors informed the design of prospective veterinary practice-level cohort and case-control studies across British equine practices, which were subsequently supplemented by an ongoing web-based owner-reporting platform (careaboutlaminitis.org.uk) capturing additional cases at population level. This body of work has yielded evidence-based diagnostic guidelines, disease frequency estimates, validated research tools and identification of novel modifiable risk factors—providing practitioners with substantially improved epidemiological foundations for clinical decision-making. The critical insight underlying this success was recognising that generating robust equine evidence requires genuine collaboration across traditionally siloed groups: veterinarians, epidemiologists, horse owners, IT specialists and animal welfare organisations all contributed essential expertise and access. For farriers, vets and other equine professionals, this work underscores both the value of participating in large-scale data collection initiatives and the practical importance of basing clinical protocols on systematically gathered evidence rather than assumption—particularly given how common and potentially career-ending laminitis remains.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Veterinary practitioners are essential partners in generating reliable epidemiological data on laminitis—your case records and observations directly inform evidence-based guidelines and differential diagnosis tools
- •Collaborative research efforts have identified previously unknown modifiable risk factors for laminitis that may be actionable in clinical practice
- •Owner engagement through platforms like careaboutlaminitis.org.uk creates opportunities to gather real-world laminitis data that improves our understanding of disease frequency and presentation
Key Findings
- •Systematic reviews on laminitis frequency and risk factors have been completed to inform prospective epidemiological studies
- •Practice-level cohort and nested case-control studies of veterinary-diagnosed laminitis in British horses have been conducted
- •Novel modifiable risk factors for laminitis have been identified through evidence-based research collaboration
- •Web-based data collection platforms enable prospective owner-reported laminitis case monitoring at individual animal level