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. 2012 Jun;3(2):117-22.
doi: 10.5491/SHAW.2012.3.2.117. Epub 2012 Jun 8.

Return to work after an acute coronary syndrome: patients' perspective

Frans G Slebus  1 , Harald T Jorstad, Ron Jg Peters, P Paul Fm Kuijer, J Han Hbm Willems, Judith K Sluiter, Monique Hw Frings-Dresen
Affiliations

Return to work after an acute coronary syndrome: patients' perspective

Frans G Slebus et al. Saf Health Work. 2012 Jun.

Abstract

Objectives: To describe the time perspective of return to work and the factors that facilitate and hinder return to work in a group of survivors of acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

Methods: Retrospective semi-structured telephone survey 2 to 3 years after hospitalization with 84 employed Dutch ACS-patients from one academic medical hospital.

Results: Fifty-eight percent of patients returned to work within 3 months, whereas at least 88% returned to work once within 2 years. Two years after hospitalization, 12% of ACS patients had not returned to work at all, and 24% were working, but not at pre-ACS levels. For all ACS-patients, the most mentioned categories of facilitating factors to return to work were having no complaints and not having signs or symptoms of heart disease. Physical incapacity, co-morbidity, and mental incapacity were the top 3 categories of hindering factors against returning to work.

Conclusion: Within 2 years, 36% of the patients had not returned to work at their pre-ACS levels. Disease factors, functional capacity, environmental factors, and personal factors were listed as affecting subjects' work ability level.

Keywords: Acute coronary syndrome; Facilitating; Hindering factors; Return to work.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The proportion of employed acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients (n=84) and number of months before the patients returned to work after discharge from the hospital.
Box 1
Box 1
Flow chart of inclusion of participants
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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