[Returning to work after diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer]

Returning to work and performing housework tasks (HWT) is the final step in overcoming breast cancer (BC).

To assess whether clinical characteristics and type of treatment impact employment status and performance of HWT.

A total of 119 patients diagnosed with early BC were enrolled. Occupational and HWT-related variables were measured.

At diagnosis, most of the patients were employed and performed HWT. Two years after the end of treatment, 50% of the patients who were working continued to work and 68.6% of these had issues returning to work. Patients who did not return to work were diagnosed at more advanced stages and had more postoperative complications (p < 0.005). Regarding the execution of HWT, 83.3% had some degree of difficulty to perform them. Patients who underwent axillary nodal removal, those who received more frequent psychological support, and those who had more postoperative complications performed HWT with greater difficulty (p < 0.005).

Once treatment had finished, 50% of patients did not come back to their work. In this case, the stage negative effect and the postoperative complications materialized. These data reveal that returning to work after BC diagnosis and treatment is complicated.