COST OF VETERINARY CARE IN INSURED SWEDISH HORSES 1997-2004

摘要

Costs registered for veterinary care in non-racing horses, with complete insurance at a Swedish insurance company covering >30% of the Swedish horse population, were studied over time (1997-2004). Associations with gender, age, breed group, geographical location and life-insurance value were studied. The univariable focus was on yearly costs per case and per horse-year at risk (HYAR). Tobit regression was used to assess the yearly relationship between the log-transformed costs and breed, gender, age,geographical location and life-insurance value, censoring the data at the deductible level. Poisson regression was used analogously, but with number of reimbursed cases as the outcome and including the log of HYAR as offset. The total population was 141,552 horses contributing a total time at risk of 498,119 HYAR, on average 62,265 per year. In total -37,000 horses had insurance claims. The incidence rates in the years 1997, 2000 and 2004 were 1227, 1282 and 1080 claimed horses per 10,000 HYAR. Costs per claimed horse increased from 4905 SEK in 1997 to 7805 SEK in 2004, compared to costs per HYAR of 571 SEK and 805 SEK for the same years, respectively. The difference in SEK per HYAR between sub-categories was largest for life-insurance value (<15,000and >=45,000 SEK; 377 and 1652 SEK/HYAR respectively) and least for gender (geldings and stallions; 807 and 520 SEK/HYAR). The estimates from the Tobit and Poisson regressions showed, in general, similar patterns, except for the youngest horses where theTobit models showed low estimates and the Poisson high relative risk ratios. Even though neither of the models behaved very well at validation, it is believed that they aided in simultaneous evaluations of the effects. In the present data, comparing figures from 1997 and 2004, the increase in costs per claimed horse was 59% and the increase in cost per HYAR was 41%, compared to a consumer price index increase of 9.8%.