Association of pain with employment status and satisfaction among amputees in Japan

Abstract

Ide M, Obayashi T, Toyonaga T. Association of pain with employment status and satisfaction among amputees in Japan. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2002;83:1394-8. Objective: To assess the relationship between residual and phantom limb pain and working life among persons with limb amputation. Design: Cross-sectional study in which amputee patients completed a mailed questionnaire about their residual limb and phantom limb pain, employment status, and satisfaction with working life. Setting: Department of rehabilitation medicine of a major hospital in Japan. Participants: All participants were registered at the industrial rehabilitation center of a general hospital in Japan. Responses were received from 101 of the 147 patients (response rate, 68.7%) who were sent the questionnaire. Intervention: An amputation pain and employment status survey that included a standardized pain measure. Main Outcome Measures: A self-report questionnaire, with 1 part concerning employment status and satisfaction with working life, and the other regarding amputation-related pain, which the participant described according to the Chronic Pain Grade (CPG). Results: We found (1) no statistically significant association between types of pain and the return to work rate, (2) no statistically significant association between the pain severity as graded by the CPG and return to work rate, and (3) satisfaction with working life was significantly related to the CPG categories. Conclusion: The severity of pain does not appear to be associated with return to work among limb amputees. However, it is associated with satisfaction with working life. Appropriate treatment of pain may therefore improve work-related satisfaction. © 2002 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation