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Impact of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment on work-related life and factors affecting them

  • Epidemiology
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Abstract

We investigated the impacts of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment on employment status and the ability to perform occupational and housekeeping tasks. We performed a cross-sectional study to compare Korean breast cancer survivors (n = 1,594) who had been working before cancer diagnosis with a group of 20 to 60-year-old women from the general Korean population (n = 415). Employment decreased from 47.6% to 33.2% after cancer treatment. It was significantly smaller relative to the general population (52.1%) [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.68; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.35–2.11). There was an inverse association between employment and low levels of education, low household income, multiple comorbidities, disease stage, and mastectomy. In addition, women who lived with a spouse were more likely to quit working after treatment compared to women who had no spouse. Fatigue and exhaustion were the most frequent difficulties encountered during occupational work (by 46.8% of cancer survivors) and housework (64.6%). Our findings suggest that breast cancer has a greater impact on employment among Korean women than among women in previously studied Western populations. Our data suggest that socio-cultural factors, as well as certain clinical characteristics, influence the decisions of Korean women to return or to not return to work after surviving breast cancer.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Cancer Center Grant 04101502 and partially by National Cancer Center Grant 0710421-2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Cancer Control Research Institute & Hospital, National Cancer Center, 111 Jungbalsan-ro, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, 410-769, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

    Eunmi Ahn, Dong Wook Shin & Young Ho Yun

  2. Samsung Comprehensive Cancer Center, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea

    Juhee Cho

  3. Department of Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

    Byeong Woo Park

  4. Department of Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan, Seoul, South Korea

    Sei Hyun Ahn

  5. Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

    Dong-Young Noh

  6. Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

    Seok Jin Nam

  7. Center for Breast Cancer, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Gyeonggi, South Korea

    Eun Sook Lee

Authors
  1. Eunmi Ahn
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  2. Juhee Cho
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  3. Dong Wook Shin
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  4. Byeong Woo Park
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  5. Sei Hyun Ahn
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  6. Dong-Young Noh
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  7. Seok Jin Nam
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  8. Eun Sook Lee
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  9. Young Ho Yun
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Young Ho Yun.

Additional information

Eunmi Ahn and Juhee Cho contributed equally to this project and should be considered co-first authors.

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Ahn, E., Cho, J., Shin, D.W. et al. Impact of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment on work-related life and factors affecting them. Breast Cancer Res Treat 116, 609–616 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-008-0209-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-008-0209-9

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