Impact of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment on work-related life and factors affecting them.
We investigated the impacts of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment on employment status and the ability to perform occupational and housekeeping tasks. We performed a cross-sectional study to compare Korean breast cancer survivors (n = 1,594) who had been working before cancer diagnosis with a group of 20 to 60-year-old women from the general Korean population (n = 415). Employment decreased from 47.6% to 33.2% after cancer treatment. It was significantly smaller relative to the general population (52.1%) [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.68; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.35-2.11). There was an inverse association between employment and low levels of education, low household income, multiple comorbidities, disease stage, and mastectomy. In addition, women who lived with a spouse were more likely to quit working after treatment compared to women who had no spouse. Fatigue and exhaustion were the most frequent difficulties encountered during occupational work (by 46.8% of cancer survivors) and housework (64.6%). Our findings suggest that breast cancer has a greater impact on employment among Korean women than among women in previously studied Western populations. Our data suggest that socio-cultural factors, as well as certain clinical characteristics, influence the decisions of Korean women to return or to not return to work after surviving breast cancer.
National Cancer Control Research Institute & Hospital, National Cancer Center, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, 410-769 Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.
Eunmi
E
Ahn
Juhee
J
Cho
Dong Wook
DW
Shin
Byeong Woo
BW
Park
Sei Hyun
SH
Ahn
Dong-Young
DY
Noh
Seok Jin
SJ
Nam
Eun Sook
ES
Lee
Young Ho
YH
Yun
D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017741:Survivors; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult