Long-term outcomes of cruciate ligament injury: evidence from New Zealand linked register data
- 1University of Otago
Abstract
ObjectivesTo analyse the long-term effects of a cruciate ligament (CL) injury on health and socioeconomic outcomes.
MethodsWe used a comprehensive national injury insurance database to identify CL injuries occurring in New Zealand between 2009 and 2022, and employed a doubly robust staggered difference-indifferences research design to identify the effects of these injuries on outcomes up to 10 years after injury. The outcomes of interest were healthcare use (hospitalisations, emergency department visits, medications, knee replacement surgery for osteoarthritis), associated healthcare costs, and labour market outcomes (employment rates, income, and government benefit payments).
ResultsWe identified 61 344 CL injuries for inclusion in the analysis. Over 10-year follow-up, a CL injury resulted in increased healthcare use (0.6 more hospitalizations [95%CI 0.4 to 0.7], 1.7 more days spent in hospital [95%CI 1.3 to 2.1], 0.4 more emergency department visits [95%CI 0.3 to 0.6],2.5 more outpatient visits [95%CI 1.8 to 3.2], and 4.7 more medications dispensed [95%CI -1.8 to 11.2]) and public healthcare costs ($7 537; 95%CI 5 888 to 9 186), reduced income (-$6 060; 95%CI -11 644 to -475), and increased benefit payments ($1 152; 95%CI 542 to 1 761).
ConclusionCL injuries have long-term impacts on healthcare use and socioeconomic outcomes. Strategies to reduce the incidence of CL injuries have the potential to realise large health and economic benefits.
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BibTeX
@misc{pryymachenko2026longterm,
title = {{Long-term outcomes of cruciate ligament injury: evidence from New Zealand linked register data}},
author = {Y. Pryymachenko and R. Wilson and J. H. Abbott},
howpublished = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.64898/2026.08.27.26361565},
url = {https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.27.26361565v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Long-term outcomes of cruciate ligament injury: evidence from New Zealand linked register data
AU - Y. Pryymachenko
AU - R. Wilson
AU - J. H. Abbott
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/27
PB - medRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.08.27.26361565
UR - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.27.26361565v1
AB - ObjectivesTo analyse the long-term effects of a cruciate ligament (CL) injury on health and socioeconomic outcomes. MethodsWe used a comprehensive national injury insurance database to identify CL injuries occurring in New Zealand between 2009 and 2022, and employed a doubly robust staggered difference-indifferences research design to identify the effects of these injuries on outcomes up to 10 years after injury. The outcomes of interest were healthcare use (hospitalisations, emergency department visits, medications, knee replacement surgery for osteoarthritis), associated healthcare costs, and labour market outcomes (employment rates, income, and government benefit payments). ResultsWe identified 61 344 CL injuries for inclusion in the analysis. Over 10-year follow-up, a CL injury resulted in increased healthcare use (0.6 more hospitalizations [95%CI 0.4 to 0.7], 1.7 more days spent in hospital [95%CI 1.3 to 2.1], 0.4 more emergency department visits [95%CI 0.3 to 0.6],2.5 more outpatient visits [95%CI 1.8 to 3.2], and 4.7 more medications dispensed [95%CI -1.8 to 11.2]) and public healthcare costs ($7 537; 95%CI 5 888 to 9 186), reduced income (-$6 060; 95%CI -11 644 to -475), and increased benefit payments ($1 152; 95%CI 542 to 1 761). ConclusionCL injuries have long-term impacts on healthcare use and socioeconomic outcomes. Strategies to reduce the incidence of CL injuries have the potential to realise large health and economic benefits.
ER -