title: Employment and sick leave in patients with prostate cancer before, during and after radiotherapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to determine employment outcomes after radiotherapy (RT) for prostate cancer (PCa).
  
  
  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).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Except for a transient increase in sick leave during treatment, RT did not seem to affect the working lives of patients with PCa significantly.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Oncology , Rigshospitalet , Copenhagen , Denmark ;
authors.forename: Joen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sveistrup
authors.affiliation: b Department of Occupational Medicine , Køge Hospital , Køge , Denmark.
authors.forename: Ole S
authors.initials: OS
authors.lastname: Mortensen
authors.affiliation: a Department of Oncology , Rigshospitalet , Copenhagen , Denmark ;
authors.forename: Per M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Rosenschöld
authors.affiliation: a Department of Oncology , Rigshospitalet , Copenhagen , Denmark ;
authors.forename: Svend A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Engelholm
authors.affiliation: a Department of Oncology , Rigshospitalet , Copenhagen , Denmark ;
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Petersen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Prostate cancer; quality of life; radiotherapy; return to work; sick leave