Publications by authors named "Gylfi Olafsson"
Purpose: To estimate the societal costs of low back pain with/without radiating leg pain (LBP). LBP is a major burden in terms of both personal suffering and societal costs.
Methods: Patients visiting healthcare providers with a LBP-diagnosis in the Western region of Sweden (Västra Götaland) in 2008-2011 were identified in national registers and an administrative patient database.
Aims: To develop a health economic model to evaluate the long-term costs and outcomes over the healthcare treatment pathway for patients with low back pain (LBP).
Materials And Methods: A health economic model, consisting of a decision tree structure with a Markov microsimulation model at the end of each branch, was created. Patients were followed from first observed clinical presentation with LBP until the age of 100 years or death.
Study Design: Analysis of Swedish national and regional register data.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to characterize healthcare resource utilization, productivity loss, and costs of patients with low back pain (LBP) with or without leg pain, who have been referred from primary care settings to orthopedic specialist care.
Summary Of Background Data: Register data on outpatient and inpatient care, work absence, drug prescriptions, socioeconomics, and mortality were extracted for patients visiting orthopedic specialists for LBP in the Swedish region Västra Götaland (1.
Background: The efficacy of fusion surgery in addition to decompression surgery in patients who have lumbar spinal stenosis, with or without degenerative spondylolisthesis, has not been substantiated in controlled trials.
Methods: We randomly assigned 247 patients between 50 and 80 years of age who had lumbar spinal stenosis at one or two adjacent vertebral levels to undergo either decompression surgery plus fusion surgery (fusion group) or decompression surgery alone (decompression-alone group). Randomization was stratified according to the presence of preoperative degenerative spondylolisthesis (in 135 patients) or its absence.
Background Context: The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health mandated a nationwide health technology assessment-registry for balloon kyphoplasty (BKP) for decision making on reimbursement of these interventions. The early results of the registry led to a permanent coverage of BKP by basic health insurance. The documentation was continued for further evidence generation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudy Design: Randomized clinical trial with 2-year follow-up.
Objective: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of total disc replacement (TDR) versus multidisciplinary rehabilitation (MDR) in patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP).
Summary Of Background Data: The existing studies on CLBP report cost-effectiveness of fusion surgery versus disc replacement and fusion versus rehabilitation.