Consciousness-Based Education - Maharishi University of ...

medical care utilization and transcendental meditation programtion in proportion units is (PQ) / N , where Q = (1 - P) and N =sample size of the SCI group. Thus, z = (Psci - P)(PQ) / N (33, p. 50).As a test for normality, NP and NQ must exceed 5, and the data mustbe corrected for continuity if either product is between 5 and 10 (30, p.51). This would be the test of choice for the 18 treatment categories aswell, but due to very small proportions the data were too skewed and nonormal to justify the use of the test. Instead, the sign test was used as anoverall test of the difference between SCI and Group Business on the17 pathologic treatment categories taken together (omitting pregnancyand childbirth).ResultsFigure 1 shows that for every year from 1981 to 1985, SCI’s utilizationrates were consistently lower than Group Business for medical andsurgical inpatient and outpatient medical care. It is interesting to notein Figure 1 that over the five years, Group Business decreased on inpatientmedical and surgical utilization while its outpatient utilizationincreased.The five-year means showed that SCI’s admissions per 1000 comparedto Group Business’s were 63% fewer for inpatient medical, 71.5%fewer for inpatient surgical, 58.8% fewer for outpatient medical, and56.0% fewer for outpatient surgical (ps < 0.0001]. SCI’s obstetric admissionwas 5.6% higher than Group Business over the five-year period, anonsignificant difference.All other utilization indicators—patient days per 1000, inpatientand outpatient procedures—showed results that were similar to admissionsper 1000 (ps < 0.0001).Figure 2 shows that SCI had lower medical utilization rates thanGroup Business in all age categories. Inpatient days per 1000 were50.2% fewer for SCI children (0–18), 50.1% fewer for SCI young adults(19-39), and 68.4% fewer for SCI older adults (40 +), p < 0.0001. Outpatientvisits per 1000 were 46.8% fewer for SCI children, 54.7% fewerforSCI young adults, and 73.7% fewer for SCI older adults, p < 0.0001.Figure 3 shows that SCI had lower admissions per 1000 thanGroup Business in all 18 treatment categories except obstetrics. For theother 17 categories, SCI had lower admissions rates: intestinal, –49%;nose, throat, and lung, –73.0%; heart, –87.3%; genital and urinary,–37.0%;injuries, –63.2%; tumors, –55.4%; bone and muscle, –67.6%; ill-335