Increased health care utilization as a function of participation in trauma research

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Abstract
This study was designed to compare, in a primary care setting, the health care utilization of women who participated in a trauma research study with the health care utilization of women who did not. Health care utilization in the 12 months before and the 12 months after participation in trauma research was determined for both participants (N = 116) and a group of control subjects (N = 100) matched for day of service. Pairwise t test results indicated that for the women who participated in the research, all measures of health care utilization significantly increased in the 12 months after the trauma study; for the control subjects, only the number of ongoing prescriptions significantly increased. Sign tests confirmed that a significantly greater number of research participants demonstrated a positive difference (increase in utilization) for all health care variables, whereas only ongoing prescriptions demonstrated a significant systematic increase among control subjects. The findings suggest that participation in trauma research may increase subsequent health care utilization.