After a stroke, the road back to employment can be challenging. A Japanese study shows that return to work rate for stroke survivors depends on the subtype of stroke.
Researchers found that employees who took sick leave due to cerebral hemorrhage had a longer time to full return to work than those with cerebral infarction. They explained that patients with cerebral hemorrhage tended to have greater functional impairment than those with cerebral infarction.There are two main kinds of stroke: Hemorrhagic, due to bleeding and Ischemic, due to lack of blood flow. A cerebral infarction is a type of ischemic stroke emerging from a blockage in the blood vessels supplying blood to the brain.
Stroke is identified as the third most common cause of disability and second most common cause of death worldwide.
The study involved as many as 382 Japanese workers who endured an episode of sickness leave due to stroke diagnosed between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2011. Data were gathered from an occupational health registry. Participants in the study were followed up for 365 days after the start day of the first sickness absence.
The study showed that the full-time return-to-work rate 365 days after onset of stroke was 62.4 percent. The full-time return to work rates at 60, 120, and 180 days were 15.1%, 33.6% and 43.5% respectively.
Stroke survivors 50 years and older had a shorter time to resignation than younger survivors. Researchers clarify that the number of years of professional life remaining after experiencing a stroke might strongly influence the intention to resign. Also, manager group participants tended to have a shorter time to full return-to-work than non-manager. Previous studies also showed that managers returned to work earlier than other workers in elementary occupations, yet a separate study showed that manager post was not significantly associated with time to return-to-work.
Job title among stroke survivors was studied and found that white-collar workers were three times more likely to return-to-work than those in blue-collar occupations. Also, there was no significant difference in time to full-time return-to-work between desk workers and manual workers. Other factors reported as predictors of return-to-work are younger age, good functional ability before hospital discharge, and office work.
Reference
Motoki Endo, Toshimi Sairenchi, Noriko Kojimahara, Yasuo Haruyama, Yasuto Sato, Rika Kato, Naohito Yamaguchi; doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2015-009682http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/1/e009682.full
Source-Medindia