Table 1.
Baseline characteristics and health status by claim status at six months
| Variable | No. | Claim made (n = 179) | No claim made (n = 115) | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years), Mean (SD) | 294 | 41.3 (16.0) | 39.7 (16.7) | 0.42 |
| Injury Severity Score, No. (%) | 0.62 | |||
| Minor - moderate 1-8 | 294 | 44 (24.6) | 31 (27.0) | |
| Serious 9-15 | 105 (58.7) | 61 (53.0) | ||
| Severe - critical 16-75 | 30 (16.8) | 23 (20.0) | ||
| New Injury Severity Score, No. (%) | 294 | 0.49 | ||
| Minor- moderate 1-8 | 34 (19.0) | 25 (21.7) | ||
| Serious 9-15 | 67 (37.4) | 48 (41.7) | ||
| Severe - critical 16-75 | 78 (43.6) | 42 (36.5) | ||
| Index of Relative Socioeconomic Disadvantage (IRSD)a, Mean (SD) | 294 | 969 (149) | 990 (149) | 0.23 |
| Index of Relative Socioeconomic Disadvantage (IRSD)a, No. (%) | 294 | 0.09 | ||
| Most disadvantaged | 53 (29.6) | 28 (24.3) | ||
| Disadvantaged | 17 (9.5) | 6 (5.2) | ||
| Average | 37 (20.7) | 17 (14.8) | ||
| Advantaged | 37 (20.7) | 38 (33.0) | ||
| Most advantaged | 35 (19.5) | 26 (22.6) | ||
| Male, No. (%) | 294 | 120 (67.0) | 90 (78.3) | 0.04 |
| Marital status, No. (%) | 293 | 0.34 | ||
| Single | 58 (32.4) | 46 (40.4) | ||
| Married/de facto | 103 (57.5) | 56 (49.1) | ||
| Divorced/widowed/separated | 18 (10.1) | 12 (10.5) | ||
| Education skill levelb, No. (%) | 291 | 0.06 | ||
| Bachelor degree and above | 36 (20.1) | 17 (15.0) | ||
| Certificate and advanced diploma | 66 (36.9) | 53 (46.9) | ||
| Secondary education | 65 (36.3) | 42 (37.2) | ||
| Pre-primary and primary education | 11 (6.1) | 1 (0.9) | ||
| Occupation skill levelb, No. (%) | 294 | 0.24 | ||
| Home duties/retired | 15 (8.4) | 6 (5.2) | ||
| Managers/administrators/ professionals/associate professionals | 39 (21.8) | 31 (27.0) | ||
| Tradespersons/advanced clerical and service workers | 50 (27.9) | 42 (36.5) | ||
| Intermediate clerical/sale/service production/transport workers | 28 (15.6) | 14 (12.2) | ||
| Elementary clerical/sales/service/labourers/related workers | 47 (26.3) | 22 (19.1) | ||
| Work status before injury (working), No. (%) | 292 | 140 (78.2) | 91 (80.5) | 0.64 |
| Work level before injury (full duties), No. (%) | 231 | 133 (95.0) | 89 (97.8) | 0.28 |
| Work hours before injuryc (full time), No. (%) | 227 | 105 (76.8) | 80 (88.9) | 0.02 |
| Pre-injury job satisfactiond (satisfied), No. (%) | 231 | 136 (97.1) | 84 (92.3) | 0.09 |
| Recovery expectations for worke (yes), No. (%) | 229 | 125 (89.9) | 85 (94.4) | 0.23 |
| Recovery expectations for usual activitiese (days), No. (%) | 278 | 0.37 | ||
| ≤90 | 104 (60.5) | 74 (69.8) | ||
| 91-180 | 37 (21.5) | 20 (18.9) | ||
| 181-365 | 24 (14) | 10 (9.4) | ||
| ≥366 | 7 (4.1) | 2 (1.9) | ||
| Language other than English (yes), No. (%) | 294 | 72 (40.0) | 32 (27.8) | 0.03 |
| Total yearly household incomef (before tax, AUD) excluding number of people in household, No. (%) | 270 | 0.47 | ||
| ≤$39,999 | 42 (25.5) | 22 (21.0) | ||
| $40,000-$79,999 | 55 (33.3) | 32 (30.5) | ||
| ≥$80,000 | 68 (41.2) | 51 (48.6) | ||
| Total adjusted yearly household incomef (before tax, AUD) including number of people in household, No. (%) | 270 | 0.32 | ||
| ≤$39,999 | 97 (58.8) | 58 (55.2) | ||
| $40,000-$79,999 | 54 (32.7) | 32 (30.5) | ||
| ≥$80,000 | 14 (8.5) | 15 (14.3) | ||
| Body Mass Index (BMI)g (kg/m2), No. (%) | 292 | 0.07 | ||
| <18.50 (underweight) | 4 (2.3) | 3 (2.6) | ||
| 18.50-24.99 (normal) | 49 (27.7) | 47 (40.9) | ||
| ≥25.00 (overweight) | 78 (44.1) | 35 (30.4) | ||
| ≥30.00 (obese) | 46 (26.0) | 30 (26.1) | ||
| Smoking history, No. (%) | 293 | 0.23 | ||
| Current smoker | 34 (19.1) | 28 (24.3) | ||
| Ex-smoker | 47 (26.4) | 36 (31.3) | ||
| Never smoked | 97 (54.5) | 51 (44.3) | ||
| Self-reported chronic illnesses (yes), No. (%) | 294 | 71 (39.7) | 37 (32.2) | 0.19 |
| Medication use (current), No. (%) | 293 | 52 (29.2) | 32 (27.8) | 0.80 |
| Recent injury other than crash (yes), No. (%) | 292 | 7 (3.9) | 5 (4.4) | 0.85 |
| Alcohol use in the past yearg, No. (%) | 294 | 0.23 | ||
| Never | 37 (20.7) | 18 (15.7) | ||
| ≤1/month | 45 (25.1) | 20 (17.4) | ||
| 2-4 times/month | 42 (23.5) | 30 (26.1) | ||
| 2-3 times/week | 32 (17.9) | 24 (20.9) | ||
| ≥4 times/week | 23 (12.8) | 23 (20.0) | ||
| Alcohol use in the past yearh (standard drinksi on a typical day when you were drinking), Median (Min.- Max.) | 293 | 2.0 (0.0-33.0) | 3.0 (0.0-35.0) | 0.05 |
| Alcohol use in the past yearh (≥6 standard drinksi/occasion), No. (%) | 294 | 0.15 | ||
| Never | 84 (46.9) | 39 (33.9) | ||
| Less than monthly | 47 (26.3) | 34 (29.6) | ||
| Monthly | 16 (8.9) | 14 (12.2) | ||
| Weekly | 27 (15.1) | 20 (17.4) | ||
| Daily or almost daily | 5 (2.8) | 8 (7.0) | ||
| Risk of long term harm due to alcohol consumptionj(standard drinksi/week), No. (%) | 293 | 0.17 | ||
| Low risk - ≤28 male or ≤14 female | 172 (96.1) | 104 (91.2) | ||
| Risky - 29–42 male or 15–28 female | 4 (2.2) | 4 (3.5) | ||
| High risk - ≥43 male or ≥29 female | 3 (1.7) | 6 (5.3) | ||
| Risk of short term harm due to alcohol consumptionj (yes), No. (%) | 294 | 95 (53.1) | 76 (66.1) | 0.03 |
| Self-reported at fault (yes), No. (%) | 293 | 33 (18.5) | 72 (62.6) | <0.001 |
| Vehicle type, No. (%) | 294 | 0.02 | ||
| Motor vehicle | 111 (62.0) | 52 (45.2) | ||
| Motorcycle | 61 (34.1) | 58 (50.4) | ||
| Bicycle | 7 (3.9) | 5 (4.3) | ||
| Pre-morbid neck pain in last 6 months (yes), No. (%) | 294 | 6 (3.4) | 9 (7.8) | 0.09 |
| Post-morbid neck pain (yes), No. (%) | 294 | 38 (21.2) | 21 (18.3) | 0.54 |
| Crash on a public road (yes), No. (%) | 294 | 170 (95.0) | 96 (83.5) | 0.001 |
| Self-assessed pre-injury health statusk, No. (%) | 294 | 0.06 | ||
| Excellent | 55 (30.7) | 35 (30.4) | ||
| Very good | 72 (40.2) | 41 (35.7) | ||
| Good | 46 (25.7) | 26 (22.6) | ||
| Fair-Poor | 6 (3.4) | 13 (11.3) |
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 h per week) and part-time (usually working 1–35 h per week) are from the Australian Health Survey: Users' Guide, 2011–13, Cat. No. 4363.0.55.001, Australian Bureau of Statistics [45]
dPre-injury job satisfaction is based on the stem question from the Measure of Job Satisfaction questionnaire by Traynor, M. and Wade, B. 1993
eRecovery expectations was based on two measures from a large Canadian study of injured workers with soft tissue injuries by Cole et al. (2002) due to the lack of validated measures
fCategories of income are from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey Wave 6 Household Questionnaire. Adjusted household income divides household income by the sum of points: 1 for the first person ≥15 years; 0.5 for each additional person ≥15 years; and 0.3 for each person <15 years. This is taken from the National Health Survey: Users’ Guide, Cat.no. 4363.0.55.001. Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004–05
gBMI classification is from the Global Database on Body Mass Index, World Health Organisation
hQuestions are from the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test: Self-Report Version (AUDIT-C) from the Drink-less program, The University of Sydney. http://sydney.edu.au/medicine/addiction/drinkless/resources.php
i1 standard drink contains 12.5 ml or 10 g of alcohol according to the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Australian Alcohol Guidelines Health Risks and Benefits, October 2001
jRisk of long and/or short term harm due to alcohol consumption was assessed with the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) levels
kSelf-assessed pre-injury health status is based on Question 1 from the Short Form 36, Version 2.0, (SF36v2)