Purpose Time off work after workplace injury varies by compensation system. While often attributed to features of the compensation system, unaccounted regional factors may drive much of the effect. In this study, we compare disability durations by state and territory of residence within a single national workers’ compensation system. Large differences would indicate that factors other than compensation system settings are responsible for system effects observed in previous studies. Methods We applied crude and adjusted Cox proportional hazards models to compare disability durations by state and territory of residence. Confounders included factors known to influence disability duration. Durations were left-censored at two weeks and right-censored at 104 weeks. Results We analysed N = 31,641 claims. In both crude and adjusted models, three of the seven states and territories significantly differed from the reference group, New South Wales. However, two of the three were different between crude and adjusted models. Regional effects were relatively small compared to other factors including insurer type, age, and type of injury. Conclusions Regional factors influence disability duration, which persist with adjustment for demographic, work, insurer type, and injury confounders. However, the effects are inconsistently significant and fairly small, especially when compared to the effect of confounders and system effects found in previous studies. Regional factors likely only account for a small share of the difference in disability duration between compensation systems.

目的工伤后休假因补偿制度而异。虽然通常归因于薪酬制度的特点，但未考虑的区域因素可能会导致大部分影响。在这项研究中，我们比较了单一国家工人补偿系统中各州和居住地区的残疾持续时间。较大的差异表明，补偿系统设置以外的因素对先前研究中观察到的系统效应负责。方法我们应用粗略和调整后的 Cox 比例风险模型来比较各州和居住地区的残疾持续时间。混杂因素包括已知会影响残疾持续时间的因素。持续时间在两周时左删失，在 104 周时右删失。结果我们分析了N  = 31,641 项索赔。在原始模型和调整模型中，七个州和领地中的三个与参考组新南威尔士州有显着差异。然而，这三个模型中的两个在粗模型和调整模型之间是不同的。与保险公司类型、年龄和伤害类型等其他因素相比，区域影响相对较小。结论区域因素会影响残疾持续时间，并随着人口统计、工作、保险公司类型和伤害混杂因素的调整而持续存在。然而，这些影响不一致地显着且相当小，尤其是与先前研究中发现的混杂因素和系统效应的影响相比。地区因素可能只占补偿系统之间残疾持续时间差异的一小部分。