Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Qol and Patients' Care

Occupational status among adult survivors following allo-SCT

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 49, pages 836–842 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Being in work or the equivalent is an important goal after allo-SCT and is used as an indicator of recovery. The aim was to elucidate occupational status and factors associated with work among SCT survivors. Adults in working age with a haematological disease (n=177) were followed up within a median of 8 (range 28) years post allo-SCT. Predictors of not being in work at all or working part-time because of sick leave, disability pension or early old-age pension were analyzed using logistic regression analyses. At diagnosis, 82% of the participants were working full-time and 2% were on sick leave or old-age pension. At follow-up, 52% were working full-time, 27% were working part-time and 17% were on sick leave, disability pension or old-age pension. Not working at all was associated with multi-morbidity (P=0.01) and poorer health (P=0.00). Working part-time was associated with a higher age at diagnosis (P=0.00), being a woman (P=0.03), being born abroad (P=0.03) and multi-morbidity (P=0.00). In conclusion, the majority of survivors were in paid work at follow-up; however, a substantial number were not working or worked part-time.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Johansson E, Larsen J, Schempp T, Jonsson L, Winterling J . Patients' goals related to health and function in the first 13 months after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Support Care Cancer 2012; 20: 2025–2032.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Bowling A . What things are important in people's lives? A survey of the public judgement to inform scales of health related to quality of life. Soc Sci Med 1995; 41: 1447–1462.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Peteet JR . Cancer and the meaning of work. Gen Hosp Psychiatry 2000; 22: 200–205.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Wikman A, Wiberg M, Marklund S, Alexanderson K . Activities and sources of income after a period of long-term sick leave—a population-based prospective cohort study. BMC Public Health 2012; 12: 745.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Waddell G, Burton K . Is Working Good for Your Health and Well-Being? The Stationery Office: London, UK, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Steiner JF, Cavender TA, Main DS, Bradley CJ . Assessing the impact of cancer on work outcomes: what are the research needs? Cancer 2004; 101: 1703–1711.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Lee SJ, Fairclough D, Parsons SK, Soiffer RJ, Fisher DC, Schlossman RL et al. Recovery after stem-cell transplantation for hematologic diseases. J Clin Oncol 2001; 19: 242–252.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Syrjala KL, Langer SL, Abrams JR, Storer BE, Martin PJ . Late effects of hematopoietic cell transplantation among 10-year adult survivors compared with case-matched controls. J Clin Oncol 2005; 23: 6596–6606.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Pallua S, Giesinger J, Oberguggenberger A, Kemmler G, Nachbaur D, Clausen J et al. Impact of GvHD on quality of life in long-term survivors of haematopoietic transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 2010; 45: 1534–1539.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Hows JM, Passweg JR, Tichelli A, Locasciulli A, Szydlo R, Bacigalupo A et al. Comparison of long-term outcomes after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from matched sibling and unrelated donors. Bone Marrow Transplant 2006; 38: 799–805.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Syrjala KL, Martin PJ, Lee SJ . Delivering care to long-term adult survivors of hematopoietic cell transplantation. J Clin Oncol 2012; 30: 3746–3751.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Majhail NS, Rizzo JD . Surviving the cure: long term followup of hematopoietic cell transplant recipients. Bone Marrow Transplant 2013; 48: 1145–1151.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. de Boer AG, Taskila T, Tamminga SJ, Frings-Dresen MH, Feuerstein M, Verbeek JH . Interventions to enhance return-to-work for cancer patients. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2011: (2): CD007569.

  14. Gruber U, Fegg M, Buchmann M, Kolb H, Hiddermann W . The long-term psychosocial effects of haematopoetic stem cell transplantation. Eur J Cancer Care 2003; 12: 249–256.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Taskila T, Lindbohm ML . Factors affecting cancer survivors' employment and work ability. Acta Oncol 2007; 46: 446–451.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Heinonen H, Volin L, Uutela A, Zevon M, Barrick C, Ruutu T . Quality of life and factors related to perceived satisfaction with quality of life after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Ann Hematol 2001; 80: 137–143.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Socie G, Mary JY, Esperou H, Robert DV, Aractingi S, Ribaud P et al. Health and functional status of adult recipients 1 year after allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Br J Haematol 2001; 113: 194–201.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Kirchhoff AC, Leisenring W, Syrjala KL . Prospective predictors of return to work in the 5 years after hematopoietic cell transplantation. J Cancer Surviv 2010; 4: 33–44.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Syrjala KL, Langer SL, Abrams JR, Storer B, Sanders JE, Flowers ME et al. Recovery and long-term function after hematopoietic cell transplantation for leukemia or lymphoma. JAMA 2004; 291: 2335–2343.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Grulke N, Albani C, Bailer H . Quality of life in patients before and after haematopoietic stem cell transplantation measured with the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Core Questionnaire QLQ-C30. Bone Marrow Transplant 2012; 47: 473–482.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Wong FL, Francisco L, Togawa K, Bosworth A, Gonzales M, Hanby C et al. Long-term recovery after hematopoietic cell transplantation: predictors of quality-of-life concerns. Blood 2010; 115: 2508–2519.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Mosher C, DuHamel K, Rini C, Corner G, Lam J, Redd W . Quality of life concerns and depression among hematopoietic stem cell transplant survivors. Support Care Cancer 2011; 19: 1357–1365.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Worel N, Biener D, Kalhs P, Mitterbauer M, Keil F, Schulenburg A et al. Long-term outcome and quality of life of patients who are alive and in complete remission more than two years after allogeneic and syngeneic stem cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 2002; 30: 619–626.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Duell T, van Lint MT, Ljungman P, Tichelli A, Socie G, Apperley JF et al. Health and functional status of long-term survivors of bone marrow transplantation. EBMT Working Party on Late Effects and EULEP Study Group on Late Effects. European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Ann Intern Med 1997; 126: 184–192.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Petersson LM, Wennman-Larsen A, Nilsson M, Olsson M, Alexanderson K . Work situation and sickness absence in the initial period after breast cancer surgery. Acta Oncol 2011; 50: 282–288.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Alexanderson K, Nordlund A . Chapter 1. Aim, background, key concepts, regulations, and reccurent statistics. Scand J Public Health Suppl 2004; 32: 12–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Fortin M, Stewart M, Poitras ME, Almirall J, Maddocks H . A systematic review of prevalence studies on multimorbidity: toward a more uniform methodology. Ann Fam Med 2012; 10: 142–151.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  28. Ware JE Jr, Sherbourne CD . The MOS 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36). I. Conceptual framework and item selection. Med Care 1992; 30: 473–483.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Hamilton JG, Wu LM, Austin JE, Valdimarsdottir H, Basmajian K, Vu A et al. Economic survivorship stress is associated with poor health-related quality of life among distressed survivors of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Psychooncology 2013; 22: 911–921.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Nordic Council of Ministers. Nordic Statistical Yearbook. Copenhagen, Denmark, 2011.

  31. Mehnert A . Employment and work-related issues in cancer survivors. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol 2011; 77: 109–130.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Taskila T, Martikainen R, Hietanen P, Lindbohm ML . Comparative study of work ability between cancer survivors and their referents. Eur J Cancer 2007; 43: 914–920.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Gudbergsson SB, Fossa SD, Dahl AA . A study of work changes due to cancer in tumor-free primary-treated cancer patients. A NOCWO study. Support Care Cancer 2008; 16: 1163–1171.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. de Boer AG, Taskila T, Ojajarvi A, van Dijk FJ, Verbeek JH . Cancer survivors and unemployment: a meta-analysis and meta-regression. JAMA 2009; 301: 753–762.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Mosher C, Redd W, Rini C, Burkhalter J, DuHamel K . Physical, psychological, and social sequelae following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a review of the literature. Psychooncology 2009; 18: 113–127.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  36. Wingard JR, Curbow B, Baker F, Piantadosi S . Health, functional status, and employment of adult survivors of bone marrow transplantation. Ann Intern Med 1991; 114: 113–118.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Deeg HJ, Leisenring W, Storb R, Nims J, Flowers ME, Witherspoon RP et al. Long-term outcome after marrow transplantation for severe aplastic anemia. Blood 1998; 91: 3637–3645.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Main DS, Nowels CT, Cavender TA, Etschmaier M, Steiner JF . A qualitative study of work and work return in cancer survivors. Psychooncology 2005; 14: 992–1004.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Henderson P . Psycholsocial adjustment of adult cancer survivors: their needs and counselor interventions. J Couns Dev 1997; 75: 188–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Spelten ER, Sprangers MA, Verbeek JH . Factors reported to influence the return to work of cancer survivors: a literature review. Psychooncology 2002; 11: 124–131.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Majhail NS, Murphy EA, Denzen EM, Ferguson SS, Anasetti C, Bracey A et al. The National Marrow Donor Program's Symposium on Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in 2020: a health care resource and infrastructure assessment. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 2012; 18: 172–182.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Morell J, Pryce J Work and cancer: How cancer affects working lives: CancerBACUP 2005.

  43. Hensel M, Egerer G, Schneeweiss A, Goldschmidt H, Ho AD . Quality of life and rehabilitation in social and professional life after autologous stem cell transplantation. Ann Oncol 2002; 13: 209–217.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The study was financially supported by the Swedish Blood Cancer Society, the Cancer Research Foundations of Radiumhemmet, the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research and the Swedish Research Council.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Nursing, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    J Winterling & E Johansson

  2. Division of Haematology, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

    E Johansson & P Ljungman

  3. Division of Insurance Medicine, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    A Wennman-Larsen, L-M Petersson & K Alexanderson

  4. The Sophiahemmet University, Stockholm, Sweden

    A Wennman-Larsen

Authors
  1. J Winterling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. E Johansson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A Wennman-Larsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. L-M Petersson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. P Ljungman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. K Alexanderson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J Winterling.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Winterling, J., Johansson, E., Wennman-Larsen, A. et al. Occupational status among adult survivors following allo-SCT. Bone Marrow Transplant 49, 836–842 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2014.26

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2014.26

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links