Correlation Patterns between Primary and Secondary Diagnosis Codes in the Social Security Disability Programs
This paper addresses impairment co-morbidity among participants in programs that provide dis-ability benefits. Co-morbidity in this context is defined as the simultaneous presence of a primary and a secondary medical diagnosis. I fit a high-dimensional Bayesian multivariate probit model with a 10% random sample of 2009 initial claimants (disabled workers, including individuals concurrently applying for Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income). The resulting correlation estimates provide evidence of strong impairment co-morbidity patterns at the initial-claim level. Many of the findings mirror the epidemiological evidence, such as associations of diabetes with chronic renal failure, open wounds of a lower limb, peripheral neuropathies, and blindness/low vision. Other results are surprising. For instance, the correlation estimates defy the presumption of high positive association between mental and musculoskeletal-system diagnoses
Nach Informationen von SSRN wurde die ursprüngliche Fassung des Dokuments June 18, 2018 erstellt
Other identifiers:
10.2139/ssrn.3198836 [DOI]
Classification:
C30 - Econometric Methods: Multiple/Simultaneous Equation Models. General ; H53 - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs ; I38 - Government Policy; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs