Occupational capacity after hip replacement

Abstract

Working capacity and dependence on the social welfare system were analyzed in 387 patients 5 years after hip replacement. Significant pre-operative factors were age, etiology of the hip disease and walking ability, and at the follow-up age, walking ability, pain and subjective experience of satisfaction with the operation. Among patients working pre-operatively, 92 per cent kept on working, and 70 per cent of patients on sick-leave went back to work. Only 9 per cent of patients working or sick-listed pre-operatively became invalidity pensioners, but none who were pensioners pre-operatively went back to work.

The Effect of Total Hip Replacement on the Employment Status of Patients Under the Age of 60 Years

“…Johnsson and Persson 5 went as far as to discover a positive association between the duration of preoperative and postoperative sick leaves and demonstrated that a reduction of sick leave to 6 months or less meant a productive gain to society. Our results parallel this study and the study of Jensen et al 6 on occupational capacity after hip replacement. In their study, of 99 patients under 60 years, the majority of those working pre-operatively continued to work after hip replacement and two-thirds of sick-listed patients returned to work.…”

“…8 Only a few studies have been undertaken looking specifically at the effect of THR on the ability of patients of working age to continue or resume active employment. [4][5][6][7] This is important because the cost of sick leave in patients awaiting total hip replacement is substantial. 9 In our study, all but one of those who were working preoperatively remained in work.…”

“…Those studies that have addressed this issue have reported that between 25% and 92% of patients undergoing THR return to work postoperatively. [4][5][6][7] The objective of this study was to look specifically at the effect of THR on the work status of patients under 60 years in the UK, who were operated on consecutively by the same surgical team between 1993 and 2003. The economic implications of the data on the provision of THR to young patients are also discussed.…”

Patient satisfaction, function and return to work after knee arthroplasty

“…The prognosis for returning to work after hip and back surgery is poor for patients with a preoperative disability pension (Jensen et al 1985, Johnsson and Persson 1986, Jonsson and Stromqvist 1994, and we found the same after knee replacement. This might be explained by progressive impairment in work motivation induced by the disability pension-an explanation in accordance with our results in the NHP part of the investigation, where patients on partial or complete disability pension showed impairment in the psychological categories but not in the physical capacity categories.…”

Occupation after hip replacement for arthrosis

“…To diminish the risk of mechanical loosening of the prosthesis, the patients should avoid going back to heavy work. The prognosis of returning to work after surgery is poor for preoperatively retired patients (Wadensjo 1980, Kromann-Andersen & Jorgensen 1980, Jensen et al 1985.…”