[Time off of work after inguinal hernia repair. Results of a multicenter prospective study]

A multicentre prospective study was conducted to evaluate the effective duration of time off work following inguinal hernia repair. From 1st October to 30 November 1997, 14 surgeons repaired 459 hernias in 359 patients, corresponding to 28.8% of salaried workers, 10.9% self-employed and 4.8% civil servants. 46% of patients were retired. Only 6.9% of patients were treated by reconstruction of the inguinal floor without mesh, 59.6% were operated by laparoscopy and a conventional prosthesis repair was performed in 33.2%. There were 0.6% of complications or modifications of the postoperative course. The mean effective time off work was 17.5 days after unilateral repair and 24.7 days after bilateral repair. For unilateral repairs, no significant difference was observed between occupational groups in terms of effective time off work, in the absence of complications. In contrast, patients of these occupational groups presented a shorter time off work following an uncomplicated TAPP repair than after plug-Lichtenstein repair. In the group of salaried workers, a significant difference was observed between patients undergoing TAPP or TEP repair and those undergoing plug-Lichtenstein repair.