Background: Evidence-based practices in medicine are linked with a higher quality of care and lower health care cost. For trigger finger, identifying patient factors associated with nonadherence to evidence-based practices will aid physicians in treatment decisions. The objectives were to (1) determine patient factors associated with treatment nonadherence, (2) examine the success rates of steroid injections, and (3) evaluate the economic consequences of nonadherence to treatment recommendations.
Methods: The authors used data from the Clinformatics DataMart database from 2010 to 2017 to conduct a population-based analysis of patients with single-digit trigger finger. The authors calculated rates of steroid injection success and examined associations between injection success and patient factors using chi-square tests. In addition, the authors analyzed differences in the cost to the insurer, the cost to the patient, and total cost.
Results: A total of 29,722 patients were included in this analysis. Injection success rates were similar for diabetic (72 percent) and nondiabetic patients (73 percent), women (73 percent), and men (73 percent). Nonetheless, diabetics (OR, 1.4; 95 percent CI, 1.4 to 1.5; p < 0.001) and women (OR, 1.2; 95 percent CI, 1.1 to 1.2; p < 0.001) were significantly more likely to receive nonadherent treatment. In total, $23 million (U.S. dollars) were spent on nonadherent trigger finger care.
Conclusions: Diabetics and women have increased odds of having surgery without a prior steroid injection, despite similar success rates of steroid injections compared to nondiabetics and men. Because performing surgical release before any steroid injections may represent a higher cost treatment option, providers should provide steroid injections before surgery for all patients regardless of diabetes status or sex to minimize overtreatment.
Clinical question/level of evidence: Risk, III.