Title
Productivity at work and quality of life in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
Author
van Vilsteren, M.
Boot, C.R.
Knol, D.L.
van Schaardenburg, D.
Voskuyl, A.E.
Steenbeek, R.
Anema, J.R.
Publication year
2015
Abstract
Background The aim of this study was to determine which combination of personal, disease-related and environmental factors is best associated with at-work productivity loss in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to determine whether at-work productivity loss is associated with the quality of life for these patients. Methods This study is based on cross-sectional data. Patients completed a questionnaire with personal, disease-related and environmental factors (related to the work environment), and clinical characteristics were obtained from patient medical records. At-work productivity loss was measured with the Work Limitations Questionnaire, and quality of life with the RAND 36. Using linear regression analyses, a multivariate model was built containing the combination of factors best associated with at-work productivity loss. This model was cross-validated internally. We furthermore determined whether at-work productivity loss was associated with quality of life using linear regression analyses. Results We found that at-work productivity loss was associated with workers who had poorer mental health, more physical role limitations, were ever treated with a biological therapeutic medication, were not satisfied with their work, and had more work instability (R2 = 0.50 and R2 following cross-validation was 0.32). We found that at-work productivity loss was negatively associated with health-related quality of life, especially with dimensions of mental health, physical role limitations, and pain. Conclusions We found that at-work productivity loss was associated with personal, work-related, and clinical factors. Although our study results should be interpreted with caution, they provide insight into patients with RA who are at risk for at-work productivity loss.
Subject
ELSS - Earth, Life and Social Sciences
Life
Healthy Living
Work and Employment
Rheumatoid arthritis
At-work productivity loss
Quality of life
WHC - Work, Health and Care
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:c0bd8d5b-fa23-47d6-8fec-8a71a1f96646
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-015-0562-x
TNO identifier
525199
Source
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 16 (16)
Document type
article