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Risk and severity of non‐back occupational injuries after lumbar laminectomy for degenerative disc disease
Author(s) -
Zwerling Craig,
Ryan James
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.4700190410
Subject(s) - medicine , psychosocial , odds ratio , laminectomy , physical therapy , back injury , cohort , confidence interval , risk factor , cohort study , low back pain , surgery , psychiatry , spinal cord , pathology , alternative medicine
An increased risk, after lumbar laminectomy, for lost work time occupational back injury (odds ratio, 5.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.9‐18.8) and disability (mean 292.8 days vs. 24.8 for controls) was previously demonstrated. Such differences could be due to physical sequelae of back surgery or to psychosocial factors. Extensive literature addresses the impact of psychosocial factors on the incidence of occupational injury and severity of disability. This study assumes that psychosocial factors would affect both back and non‐back injuries, while surgery‐related physical factors would not. The odds ratio for non‐back lost work time injury for subjects in the same cohort studied previously was 1.5 (0.5‐4.5), with no significant increase in duration of disability (mean 27.0 days vs. 24.8 for controls). The increased risk for back injury in the absence of an increased risk for other injuries suggests that physiologic rather than psychosocial factors provide the more likely explanation for the differences in back injuries.