Risk factors for, metrics of, and consequences of access to veterinary care for companion animals: A scoping review.
Authors: O'Connor Annette, Totton Sarah Ceridwen, Hernandez Michelle, Meyers Emily, Meyers Kelley, Abreu Hilda Mejia, Spofford Nathaniel, Morrison JoAnn
Journal: PloS one
Summary
# Editorial Summary Access to veterinary care represents a critical yet under-researched issue in companion animal health, with financial, geographical and social barriers potentially leading to preventable disease or mortality. O'Connor and colleagues conducted a comprehensive scoping review examining how researchers define and measure access to veterinary care, cataloguing the risk factors that impede it and the documented consequences of poor access across the five dimensions of healthcare accessibility: affordability, availability, accessibility, accommodation and acceptability. Their analysis of 52 studies revealed that demographic factors dominated the research literature, whilst actual health outcomes measured were typically pet-centric rather than exploring systemic or caregiver impacts; notably, no studies examined access barriers specifically affecting horses, indicating a substantial gap in equine literature. The review identified critical inconsistencies in how access to veterinary care is defined across studies, undermining the ability to compare findings and implement evidence-based improvements. For equine professionals, this highlights both the urgent need for focused research on barriers to equine veterinary care and the value of developing standardised frameworks that distinguish between modifiable risk factors (such as service availability or cost structures) and fixed constraints (such as geographical distance), enabling practitioners and policymakers to target interventions where they will have maximum impact on client compliance and equine welfare outcomes.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Current research on veterinary care access focuses heavily on companion animals other than horses; equine practitioners should be aware this represents an understudied area
- •Understanding barriers to care across multiple dimensions (cost, location, scheduling, cultural factors) can help practitioners identify which obstacles affect their client base
- •Future work should clarify which access barriers are changeable versus fixed, allowing targeted interventions in practice settings
Key Findings
- •51 references describing 52 studies were included, with 41 examining risk factors and 12 examining consequences of access to veterinary care
- •Majority of risk factors examined were demographic in nature, while most outcomes measured were pet-centric
- •No relevant studies focused on pet horses, representing a significant gap in the literature
- •Five dimensions of access to care identified: affordability, availability, accessibility, accommodation, and acceptability