Prevalence of Return to Work in Cardiovascular Patients After Cardiac Rehabilitation: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Perceived return-to-work pressure following cardiovascular disease is associated with age, sex, and diagnosis: a nationwide combined survey- and register-based cohort study

“…However, because the observed differences are modest, our findings suggest that vocational rehabilitation should not target particular patient groups, but rather focus on the individual's ability to return to work and perform specific occupational tasks. The need for such an approach is demonstrated by the high prevalence of comorbidities (79.6%) and supported by a recent systematic review and meta-analysis that advocated focusing rehabilitation on each individual's disease and condition [8]. Second, our findings indicate that people with CVD who are aged 55 years or younger are more likely to feel under pressure to return to work than people who are older than 55 years.…”

“…Cardiac rehabilitation may facilitate return to work [8,9], and international recommendations include vocational counselling as part of comprehensive rehabilitation programmes [10]. However, most European countries do not have clear guidelines [9], and more emphasis on vocational rehabilitation is needed [9,11].…”

“…Return to work is a complex process shaped by a range of factors including personal characteristics, the severity of the disease, work-related factors (e.g., job position and working conditions), national compensation policies, and the structure of the healthcare system (e.g., access to rehabilitation programmes and vocational counselling) [17,18]. Previous studies have demonstrated that CVD affects the ability to work and that return-to-work rates are moderate with variation across countries and patient groups [8,9,[18][19][20][21][22]. Risk factors associated with failure to return to work after CVD include female sex [19][20][21]23], older age [21,23], severity of the disease [20,24], comorbidities [19][20][21]23], lower educational level [19][20][21], and low income [19,21].…”

“…Risk factors associated with failure to return to work after CVD include female sex [19][20][21]23], older age [21,23], severity of the disease [20,24], comorbidities [19][20][21]23], lower educational level [19][20][21], and low income [19,21]. Additionally, type of employment and occupational requirements, such as white or blue-collar work [8,9], night shifts, and the ability to commute shape return-to-work [9]. Researchers have also documented that many people with CVD struggle with sustaining employment after initial return to work [19,20,22], have difficulties with returning to work at the pre-CVD level [13], and experience a number of barriers for returning to work, such as physical and mental incapacity, co-morbidities, unfavorable terms of employment, and motivational problems [13].…”

Prevalence and determinants of return to work after various coronary events: meta-analysis of prospective studies

“…For instance, RTW between 6 and 12 months after the events was not improved with psychological interventions (RR = 1.24 [95%: CI 0.95; 1.63]) or physical rehabilitation (RR = 1.09 [95%: CI 0.99; 1.20]), and work-directed counselling did not reduce time to RTW 11 . More recently, a meta-analysis of seven controlled trials focusing on the cardiac rehabilitation effect shows a slight difference in the prevalence of RTW between patients with or without cardiac rehabilitation (respectively, 62% and 58%) 12 .…”