Employment and sick leave in patients with prostate cancer before, during and after radiotherapy

Scand J Urol. 2016 Jun;50(3):164-9. doi: 10.3109/21681805.2015.1119190. Epub 2016 Jan 12.

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine employment outcomes after radiotherapy (RT) for prostate cancer (PCa).

Materials and methods: The Danish DREAM database contains information about social benefits paid to Danish citizens. Data are recorded prospectively every week. From the database, it is possible to assess whether a patient is working, on sick leave or retired at a certain time. Data on 417 Danish citizens treated with RT for PCa at Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, between 1 January 2005 and 1 May 2010 were obtained from the database. The data were collected during a 2 year period from 1 year before RT to 1 year after RT.

Results: Among patients of working age, 75% were still available for work 1 year after RT. The degree of sick leave increased almost continuously in the year before the start of RT and reached a maximum of 56% during RT. After RT it gradually declined. There was no significant difference between the number of patients on sick leave 1 year after RT compared to 1 year before RT (p = 0.23). Patients spent a significantly higher number of weeks on sick leave in the year after the start of RT compared to the year before RT (p = 0.001).

Conclusion: Except for a transient increase in sick leave during treatment, RT did not seem to affect the working lives of patients with PCa significantly.

Keywords: Prostate cancer; quality of life; radiotherapy; return to work; sick leave.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Employment / statistics & numerical data*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Prospective Studies
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / radiotherapy*
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Sick Leave / statistics & numerical data*