Aleina Tweed, “Health Care Utilization Among Women Who Have Undergone Breast Implant Surgery.” British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health: November 2003
A 2003 study by the British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Women’s health examined if having breast implants led to an increased use of the public health system. The study included 147 women with breast implants and a control group of 583 women without breast implants. The study found that women with breast implants had more doctors’ visits and were more than 4 times as likely to be hospitalized compared to women without breast implants. The study also found that 51% of participants with breast implants reported at least one additional breast-implant related surgery after the initial implantation. The type of implant, silicone gel or saline, did not significantly affect hospitalization or doctors visits.
The differences were statistically significant when age, marital status, education level, exercise, alcohol consumption, and geographic region were controlled. The researchers concluded that breast implant surgery results in more use of the public health system.
Read the original article here.