Receiving Workers’ Compensation benefits has been associated with inferior outcomes after lumbar fusion. The purpose of this new study was to compare the outcomes of cervical disc arthroplasty between patients receiving and those not receiving Workers’ Compensation. The results were published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.
The researchers examined data on 189 patients who underwent cervical disc arthroplasty; 144 patients received workers’ compensation while 45 did not. The researchers found:
1. The average patient-reported measures were significantly improved one year after surgery for both groups. Workers’ compensation and non-workers compensation groups reported similar outcomes.
2. The rate of operations was similar between the two groups – 7.6 percent received workers’ compensation compared with 13.3 percent of those who didn’t receive workers compensation.
3. The complication rates were similar between the two groups – 2.8 percent for the workers compensation patients compared with 4.4 percent of the non-workers compensation patients.
4. The return to work rate was 77.7 percent for the workers compensation group and 79.4 percent for the non-workers compensation patients.
5. However, the patients receiving workers compensation reported significantly more days off – 145.2 days off – compared with the non-workers compensation patients who took off 61.9 days.
The researchers concluded that after cervical disc arthroplasty, patients receiving Workers’ Compensation had outcomes that were similar to those of patients not receiving Workers’ Compensation in terms of patient-reported outcomes, surgery-related complications, reoperations, and return-to-work status. But, patients receiving Workers’ Compensation remained off work for a longer interval than did patients not receiving Workers’ Compensation.