Abstract
Background: The employment status of workers with cancer has important implications for impairment of intimate and family relationships and for economic, social and psychological health. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of chemotherapy with capecitabine in patients with colorectal cancer on work productivity and daily activity. Methods: 30 patients with primary diagnosis of stage III colorectal cancer were enrolled for our study. All patients received capecitabine twice daily at a cumulative dose of 2500 mg/m2 on days 1 -14 and repeated on day 22. Work productivity was determined using the WPAI questionnaire. Results: We observed a significant increase in absenteeism after 1 cycle, after 6 cycles of therapy and at follow-up (p 0.001). On the other hand, presenteeism, work productivity loss and daily activity impairment, increased after 1 cycle and 6 cycles of therapy, but we could not find statistically different significances. Conclusions: Colorectal cancer diagnosis and treatment are associated with frailty and vulnerability. Chemotherapy with capecitabine may result in negative consequences for job performance.
Highlights
Colon cancer is the third most frequently diagnosed cancer as well as the third leading cause of cancer mortality in men and women in the USA [1]
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of chemotherapy with capecitabine in patients with colorectal cancer on work productivity and daily activity
We observed a significant increase in absenteeism after 1 cycle, after 6 cycles of therapy and at follow-up (p < 0.001)
Summary
Colon cancer is the third most frequently diagnosed cancer as well as the third leading cause of cancer mortality in men and women in the USA [1]. The incidence of colon cancer has not changed a lot in recent time but agestandardized mortality has improved in the last 30 years [2,3,4]. This improvement is more pronounced in early colon cancer, where management usually consists of surgery followed by adjuvant treatment. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of chemotherapy with capecitabine in patients with colorectal cancer on work productivity and daily activity. Presenteeism, work productivity loss and daily activity impairment, increased after 1 cycle and 6 cycles of therapy, but we could not find statistically different significances. Chemotherapy with capecitabine may result in negative consequences for job performance
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