Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006 Nov 1:7:83.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2474-7-83.

Costs of shoulder pain in primary care consulters: a prospective cohort study in The Netherlands

Ton Kuijpers  1 , Maurits W van Tulder, Geert J M G van der Heijden, Lex M Bouter, Daniëlle A W M van der Windt
Affiliations

Costs of shoulder pain in primary care consulters: a prospective cohort study in The Netherlands

Ton Kuijpers et al. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. .

Abstract

Background: Shoulder pain is common in primary care, and has an unfavourable outcome in many patients. Information on the costs associated with health care use and loss of productivity in patients with shoulder pain is very scarce. The objective of this study was to determine shoulder pain related costs during the 6 months after first consultation in general practice

Methods: A prospective cohort study consisting of 587 patients with a new episode of shoulder pain was conducted with a follow-up period of 6 months. Data on costs were collected by means of a cost diary during 6 months.

Results: 84% of the patients completed all cost diaries. The mean consumption of direct health care and non-health related care was low. During 6 months after first consultation for shoulder pain, the mean total costs a patient generated were 689 euro. Almost 50% of this total concerned indirect costs, caused by sick leave from paid work. A small proportion (12%) of the population generated 74% of the total costs.

Conclusion: The total costs in the 6 months after first consultation for shoulder pain in primary care, mostly generated by a small part of the population, are not alarmingly high.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of the total costs (€) in the population (n = 492).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Luime JJ, Koes BW, Miedem HS, Verhaar JA, Burdorf A. Prevalence and incidence of shoulder pain in the general population; a systematic review. Scand J Rheumatol. 2004;33:73–81. doi: 10.1080/03009740310004667. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Van der Heijden GJMG. Shoulder disorders: a state-of-the-art review. Baillieres Best Pract Res Clin Rheumatol. 1999;13:287–309. doi: 10.1053/berh.1999.0021. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bernard B, Sauter S, Fine L, Petersen M, Hales T. Job task and psychosocial risk factors for work-related musculoskeletal disorders among newspaper employees. Scand J Work Environ Health. 1994;20:417–26. - PubMed
    1. Skov T, Borg V, Orhede E. Psychosocial and physical risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders of the neck, shoulders, and lower back in salespeople. Occup Environ Med. 1996;53:351–6. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Trinkoff AM, Lipscomb JA, Geiger-Brown J, Brady B. Musculoskeletal problems of the neck, shoulder, and back and functional consequences in nurses. Am J Ind Med. 2002;41:170–8. doi: 10.1002/ajim.10048. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources