2017 Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages 8-15
The domestic dog and cat have become integral to modern human family life. The Japanese dog and cat populations are estimated to be 10.35 and 9.96 million, with 15.1% and 10.1% of Japanese households being estimated to own at least one dog or cat respectively. With the integration of companion animals into human life, the number of owners who want to have their pets to receive proper veterinary medical care increased.
Knowing the pattern of disease occurrence of a defined animal population and the risk factors that may affect it, is important to maintain the health and prevent diseases in companion animals. It provides useful information that can be utilized by veterinary practitioners to guide diagnostic decision making, by breeders when planning breeding programs and by owner when acquiring a new pet. Despite substantial medical advances at the clinical level on diagnosis and treatment of diseases in individual animals, there is a shortage of epidemiological information in companion animals at population level.
In recent years, epidemiological analysis of dog diseases have been conducted using data from referral hospitals, and data from veterinary primary-care practices and veterinary practices. The data from referral hospitals are accurate in regard to diagnosis but they have no information about the total population at risk and the possible selection bias when only cases are referred to them. The data from primary-care practices and veterinary practices are more representative of the national dog population than those from referral hospitals, but they have a selection bias when a large proportion of dogs are not registered with practices or when the practices participating in the study are not representative of the overall veterinary practice structure. Pet insurance data have been used for research purposes since the 1970’s with increasing frequency during the last 15 years. Researchers have shown interest in pet insurance data because, although diagnostic information on insured animals may be inaccurate, they contain sound information relating to breed, sex and age of both diseased and healthy animals in the background population with less selection bias compared with data from referral hospitals and veterinary primary-care practices, and the insured population can be followed from enrolment to termination of coverage. Recently, epidemiological analysis by breed sex, age, and habitat has been conducted using data of insured dogs on mortality; mammary tumors, atopic dermatitis, lymphoma and bone tumors.
