Work situation and sickness absence in the initial period after breast cancer surgery

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis in women, many of whom are of working age, and the five-year survival rate in Sweden is approaching 90%. Accordingly, aspects of working life and sickness absence are of increasing importance for breast cancer survivors and may have a long-term impact on health and quality of life of these women. The aim was to elucidate the work situation and sickness absence during the initial period after breast cancer surgery and to explore factors associated with sickness absence.

This is a cross-sectional questionnaire study 4-6 weeks after breast cancer surgery of women aged 20-63 years, and living in Stockholm. A consecutive sample of 933 women were invited and 756 (81%) accepted to participate. Logistic regression analyses were computed to estimate crude and adjusted odds ratios for associations between sick leave and other variables.

Most women (86%) were employed (including self-employed) at diagnosis, and 91% of those worked ≥75% of full-time. At time of survey, 56% were on sick leave, the majority for full-time. Low self-rated health, poorer health than before diagnosis, having a strenuous work posture, and younger age were associated with sick leave during the initial period after breast cancer surgery in both univariate and multivariate analyses.

The results of this study is not fully consistent compared to previous studies in this field, often performed in later phases after breast cancer surgery or after other cancer diagnoses. Therefore our results indicate that knowledge is needed during all phases of the breast cancer trajectory to determine factors of importance regarding sick leave and their impact throughout the disease trajectory.