Occupation in spinal cord injury patients in Turkey.
METHODS
A cross-sectional survey.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the changes in the occupation of patients after spinal cord injury (SCI) and the factors that cause this change.


METHODS
The study involved 192 Turkish patients (41 female, 151 male) who had suffered SCI. The mean age of patients was 36.1+/-12.0 years. The mean follow-up time was 43.4+/-38.0 months. Before injury, 138 patients were employed in gainful occupations, 26 patients were housewives, 10 were retired, 7 were students and 11 patients were unemployed. Only 15 patients (7.8%) returned to their original occupations after injury. Thirteen patients (6.8%) are currently working in another job; 1 patient (0.5%) is a student; 10 (5.2%) are retired as was earlier; 40 (20.8%) are retired on grounds of disability; 26 (13.5%) are housewives; and 87 patients (45.3%) are currently unemployed.


METHODS
Prospective data collection through a face-to-face interview on an established SCI Turkish sample.


RESULTS
In our study, the rate of returning to work was found to be 14.6%. In the evaluation of factors affecting return to work after injury, educational level (P=0.00), pre-injury employment (P=0.01) and bladder-emptying method (P=0.03) were statistically significantly correlated with return to work.


CONCLUSIONS
In this study, education, pre-injury employment and bladder-emptying method were found to be important factors in returning to work after SCI.
Kurtaran
A
A
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Ankara Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Training and Research Hospital of Ministry of Health, Ankara, Turkey. aydankurtaran@mynet.com
Akbal
A
A
Ersöz
M
M
Selçuk
B
B
Yalçin
E
E
Akyüz
M
M
D000328:Adult; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D001748:Urinary Bladder Neck Obstruction / Q000209:etiology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D014938:Work Capacity Evaluation; D055815:Young Adult