Feasibility concerning the assessment of occupational claims with respect to the occupational disease No.2108 using data of the German lumbar spine study (EPILIFT)

Status:

completed 10/2011

Aims:

Description of 915 cases of the lumbar spine study (EPILIFT) with respect to the severity of disease, localization, number of affected lumbar segments, and other possible causes. Assignment of the EPILIFT cases to specific case constellations according to the German consensus recommendations. Feasibility assessment of an analytical main study aiming to clarify if the existence of spondylosis, the localization of damaged lumbar discs, the number of affected lumbar segments, and the affection of the cervical spine constitute essential criteria for the recognition of an occupational disease No.2108.

Activities/Methods:

The clinical classification is based on a consensus conference which is joined by three internal experts. For a random sample of 100 cases, the clinical classification is checked by an external expert. A power analysis will be conducted to clarify if case numbers are sufficient for the conduction of the mentioned analytical main study.

Results:

During conduct of a feasibility study it was shown that within a potential main study the relevance of an accompanying spondylosis, the localization of the radiologically diagnosed damage in the lumbar spine, the number of the affected lumbar segments as well as a damage in the cervical spine for the development of a disc related disease of the lumbar spine, could be analyzed partially with high or medium precision and partially the analyses are not conductable due to rather imprecise expected results.

Last Update: