Predictors of return to work following motor vehicle related orthopaedic trauma

Murgatroyd, Darnel F.; Harris, Ian A.; Tran, Yvonne; Cameron, Ian D.

doi:10.1186/s12891-016-1019-6

BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders

Table 2 Baseline characteristics and time to RTW of study participants (n = 334)

From: Predictors of return to work following motor vehicle related orthopaedic trauma

Variable	No. (%)	Median time to RTW	Logrank Test p value
Age	334
Injury Severity Score			0.09
Minor - moderate 1-8	84	204
Serious 9-15	198	240
Severe - critical 16-75	52	259
New Injury Severity Score			0.002
Minor - moderate 1-8	63	204
Serious 9-15	144	203
Severe - critical 16-75	127	305
Index of Relative Socioeconomic Disadvantage^a			0.57
Most disadvantaged	89	215
Disadvantaged	34	365
Average	64	270
Advantaged	78	207
Most advantaged	69	198
Sex			0.69
Female	67	199
Male	267	244
Marital status			0.47
Single	147	244
Married/de facto	167	212
Divorced/widowed/separated	18	270
Education skill level^b			0.13
Bachelor degree and above	60	138
Certificate and advanced diploma	143	213
Secondary education	118	305
Pre-primary and primary education	10	229
Occupation skill level^b			0.01
Managers/administrators/professionals/associate professionals	78	125
Tradespersons/advanced clerical and service workers	111	229
Intermediate clerical/sale/service production/transport workers	52	396
Elementary clerical/sales/service/labourers/related workers	92	340
Work level before injury			0.87
Full Duties	321	231
Part Duties	13	213
Work hours before injury^c			0.14
Full-time	273	215
Part-time	57	302
Pre-injury job satisfaction^d			0.28
Satisfied	320	231
Not Satisfied	14	342
Recovery expectations for work			0.08
Yes	298	212
No	32	280
Recovery expectations for usual activities			<0.001
≤90	202	177
>90	111	455
Language other than English			0.08
Yes	108	250
No	226	231
Total yearly household income^e (before tax, AU) excluding number of people in household			0.17
≤$39,999	53	302
$40,000-$79,999	110	250
≥$80,000	148	194
Total adjusted yearly household income^e (before tax, AU) including number of people in household			0.47
≤$39,999	153	240
$40,000-$79,999	121	250
≥$80,000	37	154
Body Mass Index (BMI)^f (kg/m²)			0.54
<18.50 (underweight)	6	407
18.50-24.99 (normal)	123	213
≥25.00 (overweight)	124	203
≥30.00 (obese)	79	302
Smoking history			0.02
Current smoker	89	394
Ex-smoker	90	207
Never smoked	153	199
Self-reported chronic illnesses			0.88
Yes	93	215
No	241	240
Medication use			0.93
Yes	67	229
No	266	237
Recent injury other than crash			0.40
Yes	16	365
No	316	231
Risk of long term harm due to alcohol consumption^g (standard drinks^h/week)			0.92
Low risk - ≤28 male or ≤14 female	311	231
Risky - 29–42 male or 15–28 female	13	358
High risk - ≥43 male or ≥29 female	9	244
Risk of short term harm due to alcohol consumption^g (yes)			0.14
Yes	116	297
No	218	215
Self-reported at-fault			0.04
Yes	125	203
No	208	250
Vehicle type			0.02
Motor vehicle	175	276
Motorcycle	140	199
Bicycle	19	182
Pre-morbid neck pain in last 6 months			0.70
Yes	15	203
No	319	237
Post-morbid neck pain			0.74
Yes	59	215
No	275	231
Crash on a public road			0.06
Yes	297	240
No	37	156
Self-assessed pre-injury health status^ij,			0.03
Excellent	103	240
Very good	137	199
Good	78	250
Fair-Poor	16	-
Claim made by 6 months			0.08
Yes	140	178
No	91	120
Legal representation at 6 months			0.007
Yes	95	199
No	136	122

^aThe Index of Relative Socioeconomic Disadvantage (IRSD) is a summary measure of economic and social conditions within a particular area/postcode (e.g. employment, fluency in English and household size). It is taken from the Census of Population and Housing: Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA), Cat no. 2039.0.55.001: Australian Bureau of Statistics; 2001. A low score is indicative of greater socioeconomic disadvantage
^bMeasures for occupation and education are from the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO), Cat. No. 1220.0, Australian Bureau of Statistics 1997 and the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), Cat. No. 1272.0, Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001
^cMeasures for full-time (usually working at least 35 hours per week) and part-time (usually working 1–35 hours per week) are from the Australian Health Survey: Users' Guide, 2011–13, Cat. No. 4363.0.55.001, Australian Bureau of Statistics
^dPre-injury job satisfaction is based on the stem question from the Measure of Job Satisfaction questionnaire by Traynor, M. and Wade, B. 1993
^eCategories of income are from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey Wave 6 Household Questionnaire
^fBMI classification is from the Global Database on Body Mass Index, World Health Organisation
^gQuestions to determine risk of harm were from the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test: Self-Report Version (AUDIT-C) were resourced from the Drink-less program, The University of Sydney. http://sydney.edu.au/medicine/addiction/drinkless/resources.php
^h1 standard drink contains 12.5 millilitres or 10 grams of alcohol according to the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Australian Alcohol Guidelines Health Risks and Benefits, October 2001
ⁱSelf-assessed health status is based on Question 1 from the Short Form-36, Version 2.0, (SF36v2)
^jNo median score for fair-poor self-assessed pre-injury health status, the median indicates that more than half did not return to work (mean = 529 days)

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ISSN: 1471-2474

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