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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Comparative and Clinical Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1532422
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Background: Investigating life expectancy and mortality is crucial for the development of evidencebased health strategies for companion animals. However, relevant studies are lacking in South Korea, possibly because of challenges in collecting mortality data. In this regard, preliminary analyses were conducted to obtain life tables for companion animals in South Korea. Methods: The electronic records of six veterinary hospitals in Seoul, South Korea were examined. The data collected included breed, sex, spay/neuter status, date of birth, and date of death for all dogs and cats with a verifiable date of death since November 1, 2004 until December 31, 2022. After data preprocessing, descriptive statistical analysis was performed to summarize the demographics, and life tables and survival curves were created for dogs and cats. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to analyze the effects of demographic factors on survival. Results: The mean age of dogs at death was 3427.49 days. Spayed or neutered dogs had a significantly higher life expectancy than intact dogs. Mixed-breed dogs had a higher life expectancy than purebred dogs. For cats, the mean age at death was 1965.49 days, with spayed or neutered cats living significantly longer than intact cats. Purebred cats had a higher median survival than Mixed-breed cats. Spaying or neutering and breed significantly affected survival probabilities in both species. Conclusions: Our study provides insights into the longevity of companion animals in South Korea, and reveals that neutering and breed significantly influence life expectancy.
Keywords: Life Expectancy, Life Tables, survival analysis, Companion dogs, Companion cats
Received: 21 Nov 2024; Accepted: 27 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Yoo and Min. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Dae-sung Yoo, College of Veterinary Medicine, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea
Kyung-Duk Min, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Republic of Korea
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
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