Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2018 May 18;8(5):e020276.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020276.

Determinants of return at work of breast cancer patients: results from the OPTISOINS01 French prospective study

Alexandra Arfi  1 , Sandrine Baffert  2 , Anne-Laure Soilly  3 , Cyrille Huchon  4   5 , Fabien Reyal  1   6 , Bernard Asselain  7 , Souhir Neffati  8 , Roman Rouzier  1   9 , Delphine Héquet  1   9
Affiliations
Observational Study

Determinants of return at work of breast cancer patients: results from the OPTISOINS01 French prospective study

Alexandra Arfi et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Introduction: Return to work (RTW) after breast cancer (BC) is still a new field of research. The factors determining shorter sick leave duration of patients with BC have not been clearly identified. The aim of this study was to describe work during BC treatment and to identify factors associated with sick leave duration.

Materials and methods: An observational, prospective, multicentre study was conducted among women with operable BC. A logbook was given to all working patients to record sociodemographic and work-related data over a 1-year period.

Results: Work-related data after BC were available for 178 patients (60%). The median age at diagnosis was 50 years (27-77), 87.9% of patients had an invasive form of BC and 25.3% a lymph node involvement. 25.9% had a radical surgery and 24.2% had an axillary dissection. Radiotherapy was performed in 90.9% of patients and chemotherapy in 48.1%. Sick leave was prescribed for 165 patients (92.7%) for a median of 155 days. On univariate analysis, invasive BC (p=0.025), lymph node involvement (p=0.005), radical surgery (p=0.025), axillary dissection (p=0.004), chemotherapy (p<0.001), personal income <€1900/month (p=0.03) and not having received the patient information booklet on RTW (p=0.047) were found to be associated with a longer duration of sick leave. On multivariate analysis, chemotherapy was found to be associated with longer sick leave (OR: 3.5; 95% CI 1.6 to 7.9; p=0.002). The cost of sick leave to French National Health Insurance was fourfold higher in the case of chemotherapy (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Advanced disease and chemotherapy are major factors that influence sick leave duration during the management of BC.

Trial registration number: NCT02813317.

Keywords: breast tumours; public health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Percentage of patients on sick leave at 1-year follow-up depending on the presence or absence of chemotherapy.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percentage of patients on sick leave at 1-year follow-up depending on whether or not they had been given the work information booklet.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. American Cancer Society, Inc. Breast Cancer Facts & figures 2013-2014 (2013) Atlanta. http://cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@research/documents/document/acspc-... (accessed 20 Sep 2014).
    1. Verdecchia A, Francisci S, Brenner H, et al. . Recent cancer survival in Europe: a 2000-02 period analysis of EUROCARE-4 data. Lancet Oncol 2007;8:784–96. 10.1016/S1470-2045(07)70246-2 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mehnert A, de Boer A, Feuerstein M. Employment challenges for cancer survivors. Cancer 2013;119(Suppl 11):2151–9. 10.1002/cncr.28067 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Balak F, Roelen CA, Koopmans PC, et al. . Return to work after early-stage breast cancer: a cohort study into the effects of treatment and cancer-related symptoms. J Occup Rehabil 2008;18:267–72. 10.1007/s10926-008-9146-z - DOI - PubMed
    1. de Boer AG, Taskila TK, Tamminga SJ, et al. . Interventions to enhance return-to-work for cancer patients. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2015:CD007569 10.1002/14651858.CD007569.pub3 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Substances

Associated data