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Faculty of Medical Sciences

Work-related social support affects return to work after total hip or total knee arthroplasty

Kamp, Tamara (2020) Work-related social support affects return to work after total hip or total knee arthroplasty. thesis, Medicine.

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Abstract

Background: There is strong evidence that social support is an important determinant in the return to work (RTW) process. Up to date, little is known about the role of social support on the RTW process among the rapidly growing patient group undergoing a total hip arthroplasty (THA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Objective: This study aimed to examine the predictive value of preoperative and postoperative perceived social support from different sources (i.e. home, work, healthcare) on RTW status 6-months post-surgery in a sample of THA and TKA patients. Methods: A prospective multicenter survey study was performed that included patients with primary hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA) and undergoing THA or TKA, a preoperative employment and age between 18-63 years. Surveys were completed pre-operatively, 3 and 6 months post-surgery, and included three sources of social support: from home (i.e. friends and family), from work (i.e. coworkers and supervisors) and from healthcare (i.e. occupational physician, general-practitioner and other caregivers). Covariates included sex, age, education, type of surgery and number of comorbidities. RTW was defined as participants who fully returned to work at 6 months post-surgery. Uni- and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted. Results: Two-hundred forty-six patients (n=100 THA, n=146 TKA) were enrolled (median age 56 years, 57% female). The majority of the patients returned to work (64.2%) within the follow-up period. Preoperatively, perceived social support from the occupational physician predicted full RTW at 6 months post-surgery (OR 2.58, 95%CI 1.18–5.65). Postoperatively, perceived social support from the occupational physician (OR 3.12, 95%CI 1.49-6.54) and from the supervisor (OR 2.53, 95%CI 1.08-5.89) predicted full RTW at 6 months post-surgery. Conclusion: This study underscores the importance of work-related perceived social support originating from the occupational physician and supervisor in facilitating RTW after primary THA and TKA, both during the pre- and post-surgery period. Further research on social support is needed, as arthroplasty is being performed on an increasingly younger population of hip and knee OA patients for whom participating in work is of critical importance.

Item Type: Thesis (UNSPECIFIED)
Supervisor name: Dr. Stevens, M. and Prof. Dr. Brouwer, S.
Faculty: Medical Sciences
Date Deposited: 28 Nov 2023 13:18
Last Modified: 28 Nov 2023 13:18
URI: https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3727

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