Employment status and sick-leave following obesity surgery: a five-year prospective cohort study
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Abstract
Background. Severe obesity is a risk factor for lower participation in paid work, but whether employment increases and sick leave decreases after obesity surgery is not well documented. Methods. We assessed 224 Norwegian patients with severe obesity (mean age: 40; mean BMI: 49; 61% female) regarding employment status (working versus not working) and the number of days of sick leave during the preceding 12 months, before and five years after obesity surgery (75% follow-up rate). Logistic regression analysis was used to study preoperative predictors of employment status after surgery. Results. There were no change in the employment rate over time (54% versus 58%), but the number of days of sick leave per year was significantly reduced, from a mean of 63 to a mean of 26, and from a median of 36 to a median of 4. Most of this change was attributable to patients with zero days of sick leave, which increased from 25% to 41%. Being female, older, having low education level, receiving disability pension and not being employed before obesity surgery were important risk factors for not being employed after obesity surgery. The type of obesity surgery, BMI and marital status were not useful predictors. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that that undergoing obesity surgery is not associated with a higher rate of employment, although it may reduce the number of days of sick leave. Additional interventions are likely needed to influence the employment status of these patients. The significant preoperative predictors of not being employed in this study provide suggestions for further research .
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2015. Employment status and sick-leave following obesity surgery: a five-year prospective cohort study. PeerJ PrePrints 3:e923v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.923v1note This preprint is not peer-reviewed. You may wish to reference the subsequent peer-reviewed version of this article.
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Competing Interests
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
Author Contributions
John Roger Andersen conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Ulrikke J.V. Hernæs conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, wrote the paper, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Karl Ove Hufthammer performed the experiments, analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Villy Våge conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, wrote the paper, reviewed drafts of the paper, dr. Villy Våge started the obesity surgery program at Førde Central Hospital back in 2001, and set up a research data base that made this study possible. As a bariatric surgeon he has also has operated many of the patients included in this study..
Human Ethics
The following information was supplied relating to ethical approvals (i.e., approving body and any reference numbers):
Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics in Western Norway (REK vest, ref. nr. 2013/1747).
Data Deposition
The following information was supplied regarding the deposition of related data:
All relevant data can be downloaded here: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16272
Funding
This study was funded by grant from Helse Vest RHF (the Western Norway Regional Health Authority). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
