Title
Employment work disability and work days lost in patients with ankylosing spondylitis A cross sectional study of Dutch patients
Author
TNO Preventie en Gezondheid
Boonen, A.
Chorus, A.
Miedema, H.
van der Heijde, D.
van der Tempel, H.
van der Linden, S.
Publication year
2001
Abstract
Objective - To evaluate employment status, work disability, and work days lost in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Methods - A questionnaire was sent to 709 patients with AS aged 16-60. The results of 658 of the patients could be analysed. Results - After adjustment for age, labour force participation was decreased by 15.4% in male patients and 5.2% in female patients compared with the general Dutch population. Work disability (all causes) was 15.7% and 16.9% higher than expected in the general population for male and female patients respectively. In particular, the proportion of those with a partial work disability pension was increased. Patients with a paid job lost 5.0% of work days as the result of having AS, accounting for a mean of 10.1 days of sick leave due to AS per patient per year in addition to the national average of 12.3 unspecified days of sick leave. Conclusion - This study on work status in AS provides data adjusted for age and sex, and the differences from the reference population were significant. The impact of AS on employment and work disability is considerable. Work status in patients with AS needs more attention as an outcome measure in future research.
Subject
age
ankylosing spondylitis
human
job performance
major clinical study
outcomes research
pension
questionnaire
work disability
workload
Absenteeism
Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Confidence Intervals
Cross-Sectional Studies
Disability Evaluation
Employment
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Netherlands
Sex Factors
Sick Leave
Social Class
Social Security
Spondylitis, Ankylosing
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DOI
https://doi.org/10.1136/ard.60.4.353
TNO identifier
953546
ISSN
0003-4967
Source
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 60 (60), 353-358
Document type
article