Sick leave length and the costs of operatively and conservatively treated distal radius fractures in the working age population: a retrospective cohort study

BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders

Research

Antti P. Launonen¹  Vili Palola²  Ville M. Mattila³  Ville T. Ponkilainen⁴  Teemu P. Hevonkorpi⁴ 

[1] Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland;Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, 33520, Tampere, Finland;Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, 33520, Tampere, Finland;Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland;Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, 33520, Tampere, Finland;Department of Surgery, Central Finland Central Hospital Nova, Jyvaskyla, Finland;

关键词: Distal radius fracture;    Sick leave;    Work;    Costs;    Treatment;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12891-023-06963-0

 received in 2023-07-04, accepted in 2023-10-13,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAmong the working population, a transient loss of working ability due to distal radius fracture (DRF) has a societal impact in terms of sick leave. Non-operative cast immobilization is the most common treatment option for DRF. However, these fractures are increasingly treated operatively. This retrospective cohort study of patients aged 20–64 with DRF compares the effects of different treatment strategies on sick leave length and overall cost of treatment.MethodsMultivariable regression analysis was used with treatment modality as an exposure and sick leave length as an outcome. Sick leave data were obtained from a national register. Costs were evaluated by adding the direct cost of the treatment modality to the mean cost of sick leave per patient in different treatment groups.ResultsOf 614 working-age patients with a DRF who were treated at a tertiary hospital in Finland between January 2013 and December 2014, 521 were primarily treated non-operatively with cast immobilization and 93 were primarily operated. Of the primarily non-operatively treated patients, 48 were operated during follow-up. The mean follow-up was 5 years. The median time lost from work after DRF was 55 days (7.9 weeks), and the separated medians by treatment modality were 49 (7 weeks) and 70 days (10 weeks) for conservative and operative treatment, respectively. Multivariable linear regression analyses were performed for those patients who had sick leave (n = 292). Regression analysis also showed that operative treatment correlates with longer sick leave.ConclusionsOperative treatment of distal radius fracture led more often to longer time lost from work than conservative treatment. Moreover, due to longer sick leave and the costs of the operation itself, operative treatment is over two times more expensive than conservative treatment.Trial registrationretrospectively registered.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

【 图 表 】

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