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The sociocultural effects on orthopedic surgeries in Taiwan

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  • Shin-Lin Chiu
  • Mei-Jih Gee
  • Chih-Hsin Muo
  • Chiao-Lee Chu
  • Shou-Jen Lan
  • Chiu-Liang Chen

Abstract

Various sociocultural factors affect healthcare-seeking behaviors. In Taiwanese society, superstitions and lunar festivals play important roles in people’s lives. We investigated the impact of “Ghost Month” (the 7th lunar month) and Chinese New Year (the 12th lunar month and the 1st lunar month of the following year) on the number of elective surgeries and emergent surgeries in Taiwan. The number of total knee replacement (TKR) surgeries and proximal femur fracture (PFF) surgeries in each lunar month from 2000 to 2011 were extracted from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database, a computerized and population-based database. Patients were then sorted by location of residence or gender. The average number of TKR surgeries performed was significantly lower during the 1st, 7th, and 12th lunar months in urban areas, whereas in rural areas this trend was only evident in the 7th and 12th lunar months. There was however, no significant difference in the average number of PFF surgeries in each lunar month except for an increase seen in the 1st lunar month in rural patients (p

Suggested Citation

  • Shin-Lin Chiu & Mei-Jih Gee & Chih-Hsin Muo & Chiao-Lee Chu & Shou-Jen Lan & Chiu-Liang Chen, 2018. "The sociocultural effects on orthopedic surgeries in Taiwan," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(3), pages 1-11, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0195183
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195183
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Yang, Chiang-Hsing & Huang, Yu-Tung & Janes, Craig & Lin, Kuan-Chia & Lu, Tsung-Hsueh, 2008. "Belief in ghost month can help prevent drowning deaths: A natural experiment on the effects of cultural beliefs on risky behaviours," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(9), pages 1990-1998, May.
    2. Jung-Nien Lai & Chien-Tung Wu & Pau-Chung Chen & Chiun-Sheng Huang & Song-Nan Chow & Jung-Der Wang, 2011. "Increased Risk for Invasive Breast Cancer Associated with Hormonal Therapy: A Nation-Wide Random Sample of 65,723 Women Followed from 1997 to 2008," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(10), pages 1-7, October.
    3. Anson, Jon & Anson, Ofra, 2001. "Death rests a while: holy day and Sabbath effects on Jewish mortality in Israel," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 83-97, January.
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