Cost per case or total cost? The potential of prevention of hand injuries in young children – Retrospective and prospective studies

Table 2 Ordinary least squares regression results of the logarithm of health-care costs on case categories, demographic and treatment characteristics.

Variable	(1)^a) No ward days Coefficient	(2)^b) 1–3 ward days Coefficient	(3)^c) 4+ ward days Coefficient
Fingertip injury caused by door or other pinch object			-0.10*
Fracture, sprain or dislocation caused by fall/hit	-0.56***		-0.16*
Tendon or nerve injury or wound caused by sharp objects	-0.75***	0.09*
Complex injury caused by fall with a sharp object		0.32**
Complex injury caused by machine or rifle		0.36*	0.28**
Other injuries	-0.39***
Number of surgical sessions	1.02***	0.13**	0.04*
Number of physiotherapy sessions	0.56***	0.21***	0.18**
Logarithm of length of stay		0.70***	0.79***
Constant	5.99***	7.24***	7.29***
Number of individuals	213	218	102
Adjusted R²	0.35	0.69	0.89
F	23.83***	82.40***	179.89***
Akaike's information criterion	368.71	-87.08	-35.50

Separate regressions by length of stay: No ward days, 1–3 ward days and 4 or more ward days. Estimated coefficients denote percentage change in cost.
Note: Significance levels indicated by stars: * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01 and *** p < 0.001.
Initial model controlled for age, gender, ethnicity, all case categories, physiotherapy, place of injury, catchment area, admitted on weekend, admitted later than the same day, surgery and length of stay. Insignificant variables were omitted from the final model.
^a) Reference person was a child with a burn injury or finger tip injury (categories A and B), no physiotherapy and no operation session.
^b) Reference person was a child from categories A, B, C or G, no physiotherapy, no operation session and zero ward days.
^c) Reference person was a child from categories A, D, E or G, no physiotherapy, no operation session and zero ward days.

ISSN: 1471-2431