Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30192641›Full record

ArticleHand (New York, N.Y.)2019

Discretionary Surgery: A Comparison of Workers' Compensation and Commercial Insurance.

Bonheur A T D van der Gronde, Tom J Crijns, David Ring, Nina Leung

Abstract readComparative Study
In one paragraph

Article in Hand (New York, N.Y.), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Bonheur A T D van der Gronde1 Department of Surgery and Perioperative Care, Dell Medical School, University of Texas at Austin, USA.
Tom J Crijns1 Department of Surgery and Perioperative Care, Dell Medical School, University of Texas at Austin, USA.
David Ring1 Department of Surgery and Perioperative Care, Dell Medical School, University of Texas at Austin, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2910-5071
Nina Leung1 Department of Surgery and Perioperative Care, Dell Medical School, University of Texas at Austin, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundWorkers' compensation is intended for injuries that occur at work and is expected to be mostly for trauma and mostly nondiscretionary conditions. We tested the null hypothesis that there is no difference in the ratio of likely discretionary to likely nondiscretionary surgery between patients treated under workers' compensation compared with commercial insurance controlling for age, sex, and anatomical site for either traumatic or nontraumatic diagnoses.

methodsUsing claims data from the Texas workers' compensation database and Truven Health commercial claims we classified International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) diagnoses and procedure codes as likely discretionary or likely nondiscretionary, and as traumatic or nontraumatic. Ratios of likely discretionary to likely nondiscretionary surgery were calculated and compared.

resultsAmong patients treated under workers' compensation, the ratio of likely discretionary to likely nondiscretionary surgery was significantly higher for traumatic diagnoses (0.57 [95% confidence interval, CI, = 0.56-0.61] vs 0.38 [95% CI = 0.37-0.40], P < .05) and significantly lower for nontraumatic diagnoses (9.4 [95% CI = 9.20-9.42] vs 13.2 [95% CI = 12.9-13.3], P < .05) compared with commercial insurance.

conclusionsWorkers' compensation often covers likely discretionary musculoskeletal surgery, and insurance type may influence treatment.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultAgedDatabases, FactualElective Surgical ProceduresFemaleHumansInsurance, HealthMaleMiddle AgedMusculoskeletal DiseasesOccupational DiseasesOccupational InjuriesRetrospective StudiesTexasUpper Extremitycommercial insurancediscretionary surgerynontraumatictraumaticworkers’ compensation

Identifiers

PMID30192641
PMCPMC6346365

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.