Epidemiological Study of Return to Work and Mortality in Lung Cancer Survivors

Zhe-Yu Yang, Ching-Huang Lai, Ching-Liang Ho and Chung-Ching Wang
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Zhe-Yu Yang: Division of Family Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan
Ching-Huang Lai: School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan
Ching-Liang Ho: Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, School of Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan
Chung-Ching Wang: Division of Family Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 19, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Lung cancer is the second most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Return to work (RTW) plays an important role for lung cancer survivors. Few studies focus solely on the relationship among possible variables and the RTW of lung cancer patients. The aim of our study was to examine sociodemographic, disease-related and work-related factors associated with RTW among lung cancer survivors in Taiwan. A total of 2206 employees who had been diagnosed with lung cancer at the Labor Insurance Database (LID), Taiwan Cancer Registry (TCR) and the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) during the period 2004–2015, were included in the study. We used the Cox proportional hazards model to investigate the associations between sociodemographic, disease-related and work-related factors on one hand and RTW on the other hand. The Kaplan–Meier method was used for analyzing the survival probability. Patients with an early cancer stage and those who underwent surgery had a higher likelihood of RTW. Factors including older age, male, higher monthly income and receipt of radiotherapy were inversely correlated with RTW. For lung cancer patients, RTW was a predictor of a lower risk of all-cause mortality in both the unadjusted and fully adjusted model. A better survival rate was found in stage III and IV lung cancer patients who had RTW. Sociodemographic and clinical-related variables had an impact on RTW among employees with lung cancer. RTW was correlated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality and better lung cancer survival. Our study showed the influence of RTW and independent confounding factors in lung cancer survivorship.

Keywords: lung cancer; return to work; survival outcome (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2021:i:1:p:309-:d:713120

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