title: Costs of workers' compensation claims for hearing loss.
abstract: Much has been written about the merits, needs, adequacy, and effectiveness of hearing conservation programs but very little about the cost of noise-induced hearing loss. Using claims for hearing loss submitted to a Canadian compensation board for a 5-years period (1979 to 1983), we estimated the current cost per claim to be $14,106. We observed an annual increase of 20.4% for noise-induced hearing loss claims and project that if 80% of the 450 claims submitted in 1987 are accepted, it will commit the Workers' Compensation Board in Alberta to a cost of $5,373,360--a considerable commitment for a disease that makes up only 0.3% of all claims. As a measure of morbidity we determined the years of potential hearing loss. The 207 workers between the ages of 18 and 70 years who were pensioned had a potential hearing loss value of 2529 years. Some authors have expressed the view that hearing loss is currently inadequately compensated and our review of the literature suggests that a fertile climate is emerging for increasing litigation. This tendency is likely to lead to further escalation of costs if prevention is not taken more seriously.
authors.affiliation: Alberta Community and Occupational Health, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Alleyne
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Dufresne
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kanji
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Reesal
mesh_terms: D000416:Alberta; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis / Q000639:trends; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006317:Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000191:economics*; D014942:Workers' Compensation / Q000639:trends*