Return to work and health-related quality of life after burn injury.
OBJECTIVE
Although severe burn injury is associated with long-term rehabilitation and disability, research on returning to work in burn patients is limited. The aims of this study were: (i) to explore injury- and personality-related predictors of returning to work, and (ii) to compare health-related quality of life and health outcome in working versus non-working individuals.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study.


METHODS
Forty-eight former patients with pre-burn employment were evaluated on average 3.8 years after the burn.


METHODS
Data were collected from medical records and by a questionnaire in which the patients were asked about their main activity status described in the terms: work, studies, pension, disability pension, sick leave or unemployment. It also contained the Swedish universities Scales of Personality, SF-36, Burn Specific Health Scale-Brief, items assessing fear-avoidance, Impact of Event Scale-Revised and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.


RESULTS
Thirty-one percent had not returned to work. In logistic regression, returning to work was associated with time since injury, the extent of full-thickness injuries, and the personality trait embitterment. Those who did not work had lower health-related quality of life, poorer burn-specific health, more fear-avoidance and more symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, but they did not differ from those who were working regarding general mood.


CONCLUSIONS
Returning to work was explained by both injury severity and personality characteristics. Those who did not work were characterized by low health-related quality of life and poorer trauma-related physical and psychological health.
Dyster-Aas
Johan
J
Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Uppsala University, Sweden. johan.dyster-aas@uaspsyk.uu.se
Kildal
Morten
M
Willebrand
Mimmie
M
D000328:Adult; D002056:Burns / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011379:Prognosis; D011788:Quality of Life; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational; D018582:Sick Leave; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires