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

OBJECTIVE: 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. METHOD: 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. RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that participation in trauma research may increase subsequent health care utilization.