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Original research
Epidemiology of cruciate ligament injuries in New Zealand: exploring differences by ethnicity and socioeconomic status
  1. Yana Pryymachenko,
  2. Ross Wilson,
  3. J Haxby Abbott
  1. Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
  1. Correspondence to Professor J Haxby Abbott, Centre for Musculoskeletal Outcomes Research, Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Otago Medical School, Dunedin, New Zealand; haxby.abbott{at}otago.ac.nz

Abstract

Objectives To investigate the temporal trends and ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in cruciate ligament (CL) injury incidence and associated costs in New Zealand over a 14-year period.

Methods All CL injury claims lodged between 2007 and 2020 were extracted from the Accident Compensation Corporation (a nationwide no-fault injury compensation scheme) claims dataset. Age-adjusted and sex-adjusted incidence rates, total injury costs and costs per claim were calculated for each year for total population and subgroups.

Results The total number of CL injury claims increased from 6972 in 2007 to 8304 in 2019, then decreased to 7068 in 2020 (likely due to widespread COVID-19 restrictions; analysis is therefore restricted to 2007–2019 hereafter). The (age-adjusted and sex-adjusted) incidence rate remained largely unchanged and was 173 cases per 100 000 people in 2019. There was a 127% increase in total injury claims costs and a 90% increase in costs per claim. Pacific people had the highest incidence rate and costs per 100 000 people, while Asians had the lowest; European, Māori and ‘other’ ethnicities had similar incidence rates and total costs. Incidence rates and total costs increased with income and decreased with neighbourhood deprivation. Costs per claim differed little by ethnicity, but increased with income level.

Conclusion The number and costs of CL injury claims in New Zealand are increasing. There are ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in CL incidence rates and costs, which are important to address when designing CL injury prevention programmes and programmes aimed at improving equity of access to medical care.

  • epidemiology
  • socioeconomic status
  • health disparities
  • costs

Data availability statement

No data are available. The data used in this study are not publicly available due to the strict security provisions of the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). Access to the IDI may be made available by Statistics New Zealand to approved researchers.

https://doi.org/10.1136/ip-2022-044761

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    Data availability statement

    No data are available. The data used in this study are not publicly available due to the strict security provisions of the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). Access to the IDI may be made available by Statistics New Zealand to approved researchers.

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors YP: concept, methodology, analysis, writing and editing paper, funding acquisition. RW: concept, methodology, analysis, editing paper. JHA: concept, methodology, editing paper, supervision, guarantor.

    • Funding The funding for this study was provided by the HRC Health Delivery Research grant (20/1164). YP was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship grant from Lottery Health Research (2021-152330).

    • Disclaimer These results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Statistics New Zealand. For more information about the IDI, please visit https://www.stats.govt.nz/integrated-data/. The results are based in part on tax data supplied by Inland Revenue to Statistics New Zealand under the Tax Administration Act 1994 for statistical purposes. Any discussion of data limitations or weaknesses is in the context of using the IDI for statistical purposes, and is not related to the data’s ability to support Inland Revenue’s core operational requirements.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.