Sickness absence and return to work rates in women with breast cancer.
OBJECTIVE
Most women are diagnosed with breast cancer when they are of working age. How long are breast cancer patients absent? How many of them return to work?


METHODS
ArboNed Occupational Health Services documents sickness absence data of 1 million workers of whom 40% were women. Between 2001 and 2005, 2,259 women had 2,361 episodes of sickness absence due to breast cancer. These absence episodes were followed for 2 years using Kaplan-Meier analysis.


RESULTS
The mean +/- standard error of mean duration of absence due to breast cancer was 349 +/- 5 days. Thirty-seven percent of absences lasted longer than one year and 12% of absences lasted longer than 2 years particularly in women aged 25-34 years.


CONCLUSIONS
The mean duration of sickness absence due to breast cancer was nearly a year, but most women returned to work. The results of the study can be used as a reference for return to work of women following breast cancer.
Roelen
Corné A M
CA
Department of Health Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. corne.roelen@arboned.nl
Koopmans
Petra C
PC
de Graaf
Jan H
JH
Balak
Fulya
F
Groothoff
Johan W
JW
D000041:Absenteeism; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003289:Convalescence; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D009786:Occupational Health Services; D012042:Registries; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
J Cancer Surviv. 2007 Jun;1(2):129-36
18648953
AAOHN J. 2007 Jul;55(7):290-5
17665826
Clin J Pain. 2003 Mar-Apr;19(2):87-96
12616178
Br J Psychiatry. 2004 Mar;184:240-6
14990522
J Natl Cancer Inst. 2004 Dec 15;96(24):1813-22
15601637
Soc Sci Med. 1993 Aug;37(3):295-304
8356479
J Clin Oncol. 2006 Jan 20;24(3):345-53
16421415
Rheumatology (Oxford). 2003 Mar;42(3):435-41
12626793
Health Serv Res. 2002 Oct;37(5):1309-28
12479498
Psychooncology. 2002 Mar-Apr;11(2):124-31
11921328
J Occup Med. 1992 Nov;34(11):1084-9
1432298
Cancer. 2005 Mar 15;103(6):1292-301
15700265
Scand J Public Health Suppl. 2004;63:222-55
15513660
CMAJ. 2005 Sep 27;173(7):765-71
16186583
PLoS Med. 2006 Mar;3(3):e88
16563039
J Natl Cancer Inst Monogr. 1994;(16):35-42
7999467
Occup Environ Med. 2003 Jun;60(6):429-37
12771395
Psychooncology. 2004 Mar;13(3):147-60
15022150
N Engl J Med. 2002 Dec 19;347(25):1999-2009
12490681