The evaluation of work status change and affecting factors after diagnosis of coronary heart disease in Mani̇sa

Background: Besides coronary heart disease(CHD) patients have experienced difficulties due to their clinical status during their daily activities, their working life and quality of life are negatively affected. Different factors have been examined in studies which investigated changes in working life after illness. Besides the clinical characteristics of disease, social, demographic and economic factors might be related to the work life changes. Studies showed that the working conditions, their colleagues' approaches and advices, the social relations in the workplace and economic conditions of the person are considered the main factors affecting the return to work. The aim of this study is determining work status change after diagnosis of CHD and affecting factors such as psychosocial, economic, individual, clinical, environmental and labor-related factors. Method: This is a retrospective cohort study. The partipants were selected from Manisa Public Health Directorate database. The people who lived in inner Manisa Districts, of those have worked in an income generating job and diagnosed CHD for the first time (n=51) by a doctor between 01.12.2012-01.12.2013 and controls that not have a CHD (n=73) recruited to the study. The chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were performed for examining the relationship between dependent and independent variables. Results: It was found that 76% of patients returned to work after diagnosis of CHD within a year. Redundancy rate were found significantly higher among CHD patients than others (p<0.05). Furthermore, redundancy rate of the people who have experienced angiography, angioplasty, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and diabetes was found significantly higher than others (p<0.05). While evaluating all participants, white collar to blue collar, employees in public sector to private sector have significantly lower redundancy rate. Conclusion: The redundancy rate of CHD patients were higher than the general population. Many physicians did not assess the patient's working status or made suggestions without objective assessment criterias. CHD patients should be evaluated properly and encourage them to return work. Key words: Coronary heart disease, return to work, redundancy