SHAM JURATLI
Lumbar Fusion Outcome in Washington State Workers' Compensation
Occupational and Environmental Medicine, MPH
Preceptor: Gary Franklin, PhD
Low Back Pain (LBP) is a common disease with public health implications. It affects about 80% of the adult population sometime during their lifetime. (Deyo and Weinsten 2001) It is the leading cause of work-related disability in people under 45 years of age and the most expensive cause of work-related disability (Andersson 1999). It impacts the individual with pain, and disability; the employer with wage replacement, training of new workers, disability settlements and pension payments; the workers’ compensation system with administrative expenses, medical and wage replacement costs and society at large with lost productivity and lost tax revenue.
Taken from the beginning of thesis.
