title: An analysis of leading, lagging, and coincident economic indicators in the United States and its relationship to the volume of plastic surgery procedures performed.
abstract: In plastic surgery, 2 predominant practice environments exist, namely, the academic setting and private practice. These 2 groups cater their practice toward the needs and demands of 2 very different patient populations. The goal of this paper is to examine well-established economic indicators and delineate their relationship, if any, with the volume of different plastic surgical procedures performed in the United States. Information from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons' annual reports on plastic surgery statistics was collected from the year 2000 through 2010 and compared to readily available and established economic indicators. There was a significant positive relationship with total cosmetic procedures and gross domestic product (GDP), GDP per capita, personal income, consumer price index (CPI) (all), and CPI (medical). There was a significant positive relationship between cosmetic surgical procedures and the issuance of new home permits and the average prime rate charged by banks. There was a significant positive relationship with cosmetic minimally invasive procedures and GDP, GDP per capita, personal income, CPI (all), and CPI (medical). There was a significant negative relationship between reconstructive procedures and GDP, GDP per capita, personal income, CPI (all), and CPI (medical). Cosmetic minimally invasive procedures seem to be decided on relatively quickly during good economic times. Cosmetic surgical procedures seem to be more planned and less related to the economic environment. The plastic surgeon may use this relationship to tailor the focus of his or her practice to be best situated for economic fluctuations.
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, New Jersey Medical School-University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07103, USA. hoppeic@umdnj.edu
authors.forename: Ian C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Hoppe
authors.forename: Craig J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Pastor
authors.forename: Angie M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Paik
mesh_terms: D003357:Cosmetic Techniques / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D057172:Economic Recession / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004467:Economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D059066:Gross Domestic Product / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016014:Linear Models; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States