Association of vocational interventions and work-related factors with disease and work outcomes in people with RMDs:...

A EULAR taskforce was convened to develop recommendations for lifestyle behaviours amongst people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs). This paper reviews the literature on work-related factors and disease-specific outcomes for people with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus, axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), psoriatic arthritis, systemic sclerosis (SSc) and gout.

Two separate systematic literature reviews (SLRs) were conducted. The first identified SLRs, published between 01/2013 and 09/2018. The second identified original observational and intervention studies published before 05/2019. Manuscripts were included if they assessed the effects of vocational interventions on disease-specific outcomes (i.e. clinical outcomes, patient-reported outcomes, and work outcomes) or if they assessed the association between work-related factors and these outcomes. Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library of systematic reviews and CENTRAL databases were searched.

Two SLRs were identified including individuals with SSc and inflammatory arthritis. Subsequently, 23 original manuscripts were identified, with most of them (43.5%) including people with RA and no manuscripts on gout. Most observational studies evaluated the association between work-related factors and work outcomes while limited information was available on the impact of work on clinical outcomes. A few studies suggested that physically demanding jobs have a small detrimental effect on radiographic progression in axSpA and PsA. Intervention studies showed beneficial effects of vocational interventions for disease-specific outcomes, but with small effect sizes.

Many studies indicated that work participation is not likely to be detrimental and, in some cases, may be beneficial for RMD-specific outcomes and should therefore receive attention within healthcare consultations.