Gender differences in care-seeking behavior and healthcare consumption immediately after whiplash trauma

Tenenbaum, Artur, Nordeman, Lena, Sunnerhagen, Katharina S., and Gunnarsson, Ronny (2017) Gender differences in care-seeking behavior and healthcare consumption immediately after whiplash trauma. PLoS ONE, 12 (4). e0176328. pp. 1-9.

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Abstract

Objective: The aim was to study gender differences in care-seeking behavior and treatment provided immediately after whiplash trauma.

Methods: Participants were residents from a defined geographical area, Skaraborg County in the southwestern part of Sweden. A cohort of 3,368 persons exposed to whiplash trauma and attending a healthcare facility immediately after the trauma between 1999 and 2008 were identified in a database. Information about gender, age, time elapsed prior to seeking care, type of healthcare contact, initial treatment provided and eventual hospitalization time was retrieved.

Results: Women sought care later than men (p = 0.00074). Women consulted primary healthcare first more often than men, who more often first sought hospital care (p = 0.0060). There were no gender differences regarding the type of treatment after trauma. Women had longer hospital admission than men (p = 0.022), indicating their injuries were at least similar to or worse than men's.

Conclusion: Women sought healthcare later than men after whiplash trauma. Although not directly investigated in this study, it raises the question if this may reduce their probability of getting financial compensation compared to men.

Item ID: 50521
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1932-6203
Additional Information:

© 2017 Tenenbaum et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Date Deposited: 20 Sep 2017 09:50
FoR Codes: 32 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES > 3202 Clinical sciences > 320207 Emergency medicine @ 50%
42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4203 Health services and systems > 420319 Primary health care @ 50%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9201 Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions) > 920111 Nervous System and Disorders @ 50%
92 HEALTH > 9204 Public Health (excl. Specific Population Health) > 920409 Injury Control @ 50%
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