A new study, published in BMJ Open, found that patients living in certain geographical regions in the Republic of Ireland were more likely to receive knee and hip replacements, and much more likely to receive surgical procedures and injections for low back pain.
The research paper, from the HRB Centre for Primary Care Research based in RCSI, is a cross-sectional study of public health data spanning five years (2012 – 2016) collected from 36 public hospitals across the Republic of Ireland.
The study explored geographical variation across six of the most common and costly musculoskeletal surgical procedures conducted in public hospitals – hip fracture repair, hip and knee replacement, knee arthroscopy (internal scope of the knee) spinal surgery and spinal injections.
Read more
- Geographical variation in musculoskeletal surgical care in public hospitals in Ireland: a repeated cross-sectional study. BMJ Open.
- Related RCSI news release: https://www.rcsi.com/dublin/news-and-events/news/news-article/2019/05/surgery-and-procedures-for-joint-and-back-pain-more-prevalent-in-certain-regions-in-ireland