Hashemi L, Webster B S, Clancy E A, Volinn E
Liberty Mutual Research Center for Safety and Health, Hopkinton, Mass. 01748, USA.
J Occup Environ Med. 1997 Oct;39(10):937-45. doi: 10.1097/00043764-199710000-00005.
Although information exists on the cost of workers' compensation low back pain (LBP), there is limited information on the duration of lost work time as well as the association between cost and duration. For this study, cost and duration of lost work time information were derived from a large workers' compensation company's database for 1992 LBP claims (n = 106,961). The distribution of cost was skewed, with an average cost of a claim being 20 times higher than its median. A disproportionately small percentage of the costliest LBP claims (10%) were responsible for a large percentage of the total cost (86%). The distribution of length of disability (LOD) was also skewed, with an average of 102 days and a median of zero. The average and median LOD for those claims with at least one day of compensable disability was 303 and 39 days, respectively. As a "rule of thumb," it was found that of those claimants who remain on disability at the end of n weeks, approximately 50% will be off disability at the end of 6.n weeks. Additionally, the 7% of the claims with an LOD greater than one year accounted for 75.1% of the cost and 84.2% of the total disability days. Disability days that were accrued after one year of disability accounted for 59.3% of the total number of disability days. This result suggests that other LOD estimation techniques, which may not account for disability days beyond one calendar year (e.g., the Bureau of Labor Statistics Annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses), may result in a marked underestimation of LOD.
虽然存在关于工伤赔偿导致的腰痛（LBP）成本的信息，但关于误工时间的长短以及成本与时长之间的关联的信息却很有限。在本研究中，误工时间的成本和时长信息源自一家大型工伤赔偿公司1992年腰痛索赔的数据库（n = 106,961）。成本分布呈偏态，索赔的平均成本比中位数高20倍。成本最高的腰痛索赔所占比例极小（10%），却占总成本的很大比例（86%）。残疾时长（LOD）的分布也呈偏态，平均为102天，中位数为零。对于那些至少有一天可获赔偿残疾的索赔，平均和中位数LOD分别为303天和39天。根据“经验法则”发现，在第n周结束时仍处于残疾状态的索赔人中，约50%将在6.n周结束时不再残疾。此外，LOD超过一年的索赔占7%，却占成本的75.1%和总残疾天数的84.2%。残疾一年后累积的残疾天数占总残疾天数的59.3%。这一结果表明，其他可能未考虑超过一个日历年的残疾天数的LOD估算技术（例如，劳工统计局的职业伤害和疾病年度调查）可能会导致对LOD的显著低估。
