Early conception factor lateral flow assays for pregnancy in the mare

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Medicine
• Animal Reproduction
• Diagnostic Assays

Background:

• The ECF lateral flow assay is commercially available for determining non-pregnancy in mares.
• Accurate pregnancy diagnosis in mares is crucial for effective herd management and reproductive efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the ECF lateral flow assay in mares.
• To assess the performance of the electronic reader associated with the ECF test.
• To determine the agreement between human readers and the electronic reader for ECF test interpretation.

Main Methods:

• Serum samples were collected from mares in anestrus, cycling (non-inseminated), and inseminated states.
• Samples were tested using the ECF lateral flow assay at two independent laboratories.
• Test results were interpreted by two human readers and an electronic reader.

Main Results:

• Specificity ranged from 0.07 to 0.16, and negative predictive value ranged from 0.15 to 0.33.
• Overall accuracy of the ECF test was between 0.43 and 0.52.
• High false positive rates were observed for both human and electronic readers across different reproductive states, with the electronic reader showing 80.0% false positives in anestrus mares and 83.9% in cycling mares.

Conclusions:

• The ECF lateral flow assay demonstrates poor accuracy for determining non-pregnancy in mares.
• The electronic reader does not improve the test's accuracy or predictive values.
• The assay is unreliable for equine non-pregnancy diagnosis, irrespective of the interpretation method used.