Return to Work in Patients with Hematological Cancers 1 Year after Treatment: A Prospective Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Background: Although hematological cancer survivors have a high risk of disability, data on work-related issues are scarce for this population. Methods: We investigated return to work (RTW) and work ability (Work Ability Index, WAI) in hematological cancer patients 6 months and 1 year after cancer treatment. We explored associations between baseline sociodemographic and medical characteristics and RTW as well as work ability at follow-up. Results: The participation rate was 42% (baseline n = 91, after 12 months n = 40 (44%)). 6 months after cancer treatment, 33% (95% confidence interval 21%-46%) of the remaining patients had returned to work. After 12 months, the RTW rate was 58% (42%-73%). Mean WAI sum score ± SD significantly increased from 18.5 ± 7.3 at baseline to 28.3 ± 8.3 after 12 months (p = 0.001). Patients with lymphoma (r = 0.31, p = 0.02) and patients who received radiation therapy (r = 0.29, p = 0.04) were significantly more likely to return to work. Work ability after 6 months was most strongly associated with higher education (r = 0.60, p < 0.01). Patients' subjective prognosis of gainful employment before cancer treatment predicted work ability after 6 (r = 0.62, p < 0.01) and 12 months (r = 0.51, p < 0.01). Conclusion: The chance of returning to work of hematological malignancy survivors is similar to that of other cancer patients.

The associations between late effects of cancer treatment, work ability and job resources: a systematic review

“…Six (17%) of the included studies (Von Ah et al 2017Ah et al , 2018Ho et al 2018;Hartung et al 2018;Gregorowitsch et al 2019;Couwenberg et al 2020) used the complete Work Ability Index (WAI), a questionnaire that consists of seven items. These 7 items are (1) current work ability compared with the lifetime-best (on a scale of 0-10),…”

“…The 36 studies covered 12 (33%) longitudinal studies (De Boer et al 2008;Nieuwenhuijsen et al 2009;Bains et al 2012;Nilsson et al 2016;Doll et al 2016;Zanville et al 2016;Duijts et al 2017;Hartung et al 2018;Wolvers et al 2019;Gregorowitsch et al 2019;Tamminga et al 2019;Couwenberg et al 2020), six (17%) case-control studies Gudbergsson et al 2008aGudbergsson et al , 2011Lee et al 2008;Lindbohm et al 2012;Carlsen et al 2013), and 18 (50%) cross-sectional studies. Almost half of all included studies was published in 2017 or later.…”

“…Fifth, only 13 (36%) of the 36 studies mentioned the inclusion of self-employed workers; freelancers, or entrepreneurs Gudbergsson et al 2008a;Lee et al 2008;De Boer et al 2011;Torp et al 2017Torp et al , 2012Moskowitz et al 2014;Von Ah et al 2017;Cheung et al 2017;Hartung et al 2018;Ortega et al 2018;Wolvers et al 2019;Tamminga et al 2019). However, the self-employed might have different characteristics in regard to age, educational level, gender and decision latitude, as was reported in one of the studies (Torp et al 2017).…”

The Relation of Work Ability and Return to Work Among Iranian Cancer Survivors

“…The findings of some other studies also show that although 64-84% of cancer survivors return to work after the initial treatment, a significant proportion of them return to work with disabilities and have a strong desire to quit their job or change it (De Boer et al, 2008). Also, the results of a longitudinal study by Hartung et al, (2018) showed that 6 months after the completion of the initial treatment, only 35% of the survivors returned to work, while 12 months after the initial treatment, this figure reached 58%. In a study by Dahl et al, (2016) which was performed on prostate cancer survivors, the results show that 74% of cancer survivors returned to work full-time and 19% part-time.…”

Probleme der beruflichen (Re‑)Integration von Krebserkrankten

“…Dank verbesserter Behandlungsmethoden und höherer Überlebensraten wächst die Zahl derer, die trotz oder nach überstandener Krankheit ihren Beruf ausüben oder ihn wieder aufnehmen können [ 6 ]. Mittlerweile liegen aus Deutschland verschiedene wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zu beruflichen Perspektiven von Krebspatient*innen vor, die sich allerdings aufgrund inhaltlicher und methodischer Unterschiede nur schwer vergleichen lassen [ 1 , 5 , 6 , 9 , 10 ]. Bei einer insgesamt noch übersichtlichen Datenlage lässt sich in der Tendenz Folgendes festhalten: Der größere Teil der Krebserkrankten im erwerbsfähigen Alter nimmt die Berufstätigkeit wieder auf – Reintegrationsquoten liegen in Deutschland zwischen 60 % und 65 % [ 1 , 9 ].…”