Return to work after an acute cardiac event: the role of psychosocial factors

Abstract

Introduction: long-term sick leave is currently a considerable public health concern due to the enormous financial consequences for society. Return to work (RTW) after a cardiac event is a major goal of cardiac rehabilitation because it improves patients' quality of life and economic security, and reduces occupational disability costs. The aim of this article is to review the current and main psychosocial factors influencing the RTW process among cardiac patients. Materials and Methods: the review is based on PubMed, Scopus and PsycINFO analysis related to psychosocial factors predicting return to work after coronary angioplasty or heart surgery. We use the follow key-words: cardiac event, cardiac rehabilitation, psychosocial factors, return to work. The studies included in the review were published from 1968 to 2014. Results: psychosocial factors play an important role in determining whether patients resume their job and the duration of sickness absence after coronary angioplasty or heart surgery. The most important non medical factors associated with cardiac patients' RTW include socio-demographic (age, gender, education, professional category), psychological (depression, illness perception, personal motivation and expectations, personality), and psychosocial work-relatedfactors (work stress, social support, job satisfaction). Discussion: the early identification of psychosocial risk factors associated with prolonged work disability is an important task for occupational health, in order to favour a fast and healthy RTW after long-term sickness absence. Future studies are needed to explore the effectiveness of rehabilitative and RTW interventions which include psychosocial risks management for improving employment chances among cardiac patients on long-term sick leave.

Return to Work After Acute Myocardial Infarction

“…workplace stress, workplace social support, job satisfaction, motivation to resume work), which are critical issues in understanding the duration of sickness absence and health risks associated with return to work. 49 Second, the finding that psychosocial factors were not associated with return to work in our study was surprising, as they were shown to be more important than conventional clinical factors in previous studies. 1 This difference in findings may be due to the fact that we used baseline psychosocial factors to predict 1-year outcomes.…”

The Effectiveness of Case-management Rehabilitation Intervention in Facilitating Return to Work and Maintenance of Employment After Myocardial Infarction: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial

“… 3 , 7 Moreover, our study shows that negative psychological factors turned out to be determinants of the detachment from employment at one- and two years of follow-up: negative expectations concerning return-to-work, daily functioning, and depressive symptoms, all congruent with the findings of other studies. 8 , 16 , 29 , 30 Nonetheless, the intervention programs proved to be a powerful determinant of long-term employment over and above the demographic, occupational, and psychological factors.…”

“…blue-collar work), and psychological factors (such as depression and expectations concerning work,. 3,[7][8][9][10][11][12] The significance of occupational assessment, provision of individualized clinical data, physical possibilities and vocational information has been shown to increase the return-to-work rate, promote early return-to-work, and reduce medical costs. [10][11][12] In their study, Froom et al have shown the importance of early intervention by showing a 30% decrease in the chance for full employment 24 months after an acute myocardial infarction for each month's delay in referral.…”

Return to work and associations with psychosocial well-being and health-related quality of life in coronary heart disease patients: Results from EUROASPIRE IV

“…In a large number of studies, depression 10,13,24,27 and other mental comorbidities 6,10,24,29 have been suggested as a barrier for RTW, but to our knowledge we are the first to analyse depression/anxiety, using the HADS scale, in relation to RTW as an independent variable in a large CHD population.…”