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Evidence summaries

Interventions to Enhance Return-to-Work for Cancer Patients

Physical interventions and multidisciplinary interventions appear to increase return to work of people with cancer compared to usual care. Level of evidence: "B"

The quality of evidence is downgraded by study quality (unclear allocation concealment and possible co-interventions).

Summary

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 15 RCTs with a total of 1 477 subjects with cancer.

Psycho-educational interventions including patient education and counselling: There were no differences in return to work (RR 1.09, 95% CI 0.96 to 1.24; 4 studies, n=512) or in quality of life (MD 1.47, 95% CI -2.38 to 5.32; 1 study , n=124) between psycho-educational interventions and care as usual.

Vocational interventions:No difference was observed between vocational intervention and usual care in return to work (RR 0.94, 95% CI 0.78 to 1.13; 1 study, n=34).

Physical intervention (walking, yoga or physical exercise) programmes: Physical interventions increased return to work compared to care as usual (RR 1.23, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.39; 4 studies, n=434). No difference in quality of life compared to care as usual was observed (SMD 0.01, 95% CI 0.33 to 0.32; 1 study, n=173).

Multidisciplinary interventions (vocational counselling, patient education, patient counselling, physical exercises): Multidisciplinary interventions increased return to work compared to care as usual (RR 1.23, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.33; 6 studies, n=497). No difference in quality of life was observed (SMD 0.07, 95% CI 0.14 to 0.28; 3 studies, n=378).

Clinical comments

Note

Date of latest search:

    References

    • de Boer AG, Tamminga SJ, Boschman JS, et al. Non-medical interventions to enhance return to work for people with cancer. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2024;3(3):CD007569 [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords