Abstract
BackgroundPrimary liver cancer is the fifth most common malignancy and limits patients’ quality of life and working ability. Return to work after cancer treatment is an important step in social recovery. In addition, return to work represents the recovery of financial ability and improvements in self-confidence. The purpose of this article is to discuss the relationship between return to work and various covariables in workers with liver cancer.MethodsThe national registry cohort study collected adult workers newly diagnosed with liver cancer from 2004 to 2010 in Taiwan. There were 2451 workers included in our study. Primary liver cancer was diagnosed by using the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology code. Return to work after liver cancer survival was determined as returning to the same work or reemployment within five years after cancer diagnosis. The associations between independent variables and return to work were analyzed by Cox proportional hazard models.ResultsWorkers who underwent surgery were more likely to return to work not only in the 2nd year but also in the 5th year. A lower survival rate was noted in the non-return-to-work group (p < 0.001) among all patients with liver cancer. The completely adjusted model identified that the rate of return to work was related to all-cause mortality with a hazard ratio of 0.244 (95% Confidence Intervals: 0.235–0.253).ConclusionsOur study indicated the impacts of treatment on the return to work of liver cancer survivors. In addition, in patient with liver cancer, return to work had positive effect on the survival rate.
Highlights
Primary liver cancer is the fifth most common malignancy and limits patients’ quality of life and working ability
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV), alcohol consumption, smoking, obesity, genetic factors and aflatoxin exposure affect the incidence of liver cancer [8]
The data for this study were from population databases in Taiwan and included data collected from adult patients diagnosed with liver cancer in the period 2004– 2010. These data were collected by the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), Labor Insurance Database (LID), and the Taiwan Cancer Registry (TCR), and the data were connected by an encrypted number
Summary
Primary liver cancer is the fifth most common malignancy and limits patients’ quality of life and working ability. Age standardized incidence rates between gender in East and South-East Asia was 21.4 ~ 35.5 per 100,000 in male and 9.0 ~ 12.7 per 100,000 in female. Due to hepatitis virus vaccine and multimodal treatment, the incidence and mortality of liver cancer has been decreasing [10]. Impaired liver function leads to many problems, including jaundice, anemia, ascites and bleeding [11] All of these problems limit patient quality of life and working ability. Oral small molecule multikinase inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies have proven efficacy as first- or second-line therapies These treatments have a positive benefit on quality of life [13]. Return to work has become a significant problem for the past few years
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