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Work adjustments and employment among breast cancer survivors: a French prospective study

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Abstract

Purpose

The objective of our study was to assess the rate of work adjustments 1 year after the diagnosis in a population of female breast cancer (BC) survivors, in the context of the French system of social protection. We also characterised these adjustments and their influence on the reduction of professional exclusion of patients 1 year after the diagnosis.

Methods

This observational, prospective study was conducted from February 2015 to April 2016 among female patients with BC. Inclusion criteria were women aged between 18 and 65 years, treated for BC and integrated into the labour market at the time of diagnosis (working or on sick leave). Exclusion criteria were metastatic BC, retired patients and refusal to participate. A 1-year follow-up was scheduled, and data collection was performed with questionnaires.

Results

In total, 213 patients were included between February 2015 and April 2016. One year after the diagnosis (T1), among 185 BC survivors, 78 (42.2%) patients were working. Among them, 13 patients did not interrupt their occupational activity and 65 returned to work after a period of sick leave. Sixty-four patients returned to work after the end of chemotherapy (after 6 months), and one returned to work before this therapeutic threshold. Sixty-six patients (35.7%) benefited from at least one adjustment of their work conditions to facilitate their return to work (RTW) or maintenance at work: working hours were decreased for 43 patients, and workstation changes were performed for 22 patients. An occupational health physician was involved for some patients; work adjustments were prescribed to 42 patients, 7 patients had medical restrictions for physical reasons and 4 patients had restrictions for psychological reasons. Forty-three patients benefited from part-time work prescribed for therapeutic reasons.

Conclusions

Referral to occupational health physicians and work adjustments remain limited in the process of RTW or maintenance at work after BC in France, despite their positive impact.

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Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.

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Acknowledgements

We are not only grateful to the patients and their informal caregivers but also to the physicians and healthcare workers of the Medical Oncology Department (Jean-Pierre Delord, Henri Roche, Jean-Louis Lacaze, Laurence Gladief, Marion Deslandre; Pascal Riviera, Audrey Eche and Coralie Nieto) who participated in this study.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Agency (ANR, Agence Nationale de la Recherche) for the “investissement d’avenir” (ANR-11-PHUC-001, CAPTOR project), and in part, by grants from “La ligue contre le cancer Midi-Pyrénées” and “Pierre Fabre laboratories”.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Service des Maladies Professionnelles et Environnementales, CHU Toulouse, F-31000, Toulouse, France

    Flora Vayr, Elodie Judic, Jean Marc Soulat & Fabrice Herin

  2. Service d’Oncologie, Institut Claudius Regaud, Institut Universitaire du Cancer de Toulouse – Oncopole, F-31000, Toulouse, France

    Marion Montastruc & Florence Dalenc

  3. Service de Médecine Légale, CHU Toulouse, F-31000, Toulouse, France

    Frédéric Savall

  4. Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Moléculaire et Imagerie de Synthèse, CNRS, UMR 5288, Université de Toulouse III, F-31000, Toulouse, France

    Frédéric Savall

  5. Service de Pharmacologie Médicale et Clinique, CHU Toulouse, F-31000, Toulouse, France

    Fabien Despas

  6. Laboratoire de Pharmacologie Médicale et Clinique, Faculté de Médecine, Université Paul Sabatier, F-31000, Toulouse, France

    Fabien Despas

  7. INSERM UMR 1027, Université de Toulouse III, F-31000, Toulouse, France

    Fabien Despas, Guy Laurent, Jean Marc Soulat & Fabrice Herin

  8. CIC INSERM 1436, Université et CHU Toulouse, F-31000, Toulouse, France

    Fabien Despas

  9. Département de la Recherche et de l’Innovation, CHU Toulouse, F-31000, Toulouse, France

    Maud Basso & Charlotte Dunet

  10. Service d’Hématologie, CHU Toulouse, Institut Universitaire du Cancer de Toulouse – Oncopole, F-31000, Toulouse, France

    Guy Laurent

Authors
  1. Flora Vayr
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  2. Marion Montastruc
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  7. Charlotte Dunet
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  8. Florence Dalenc
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  9. Guy Laurent
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  10. Jean Marc Soulat
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  11. Fabrice Herin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fabrice Herin.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

Ethics approval and consent to participate All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional committee, national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Vayr, F., Montastruc, M., Savall, F. et al. Work adjustments and employment among breast cancer survivors: a French prospective study. Support Care Cancer 28, 185–192 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-019-04799-w

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