Return to Work Among Cancer Survivors With Treatment-induced Survivorship Syndromes

Occurrence of cancer diagnoses are rising, and both disease and treatments are aggressive. Due to advancement in medical technology, improved therapy and/or early detection the overall survival rates are also improving. Some of the most common cancer types, such as breast cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, and colorectal cancer have high cure rates when detected early and treated according to best practices. Many of these cancer survivors are of working age and are likely to return to work. Women who survive cervical cancer and men who survive testicular cancer typically have three to four decades left in working life. However, return to work (RTW) among cancer survivors may not be similar to RTW among long-term sickness absentees due to other diagnoses. Cancer is a life threatening disease and cancer diagnose is a life changing event. The emotional shock after the cancer diagnosis may be associated with low psychological well-being even two years after prostate cancer surgery. The successful cancer treatment concludes with the lifelong consequences of surgery, irradiation, cytotoxic chemotherapy, biological anticancer substances or other drugs in the treatment. The ionizing radiation that eliminates malignant cells may trigger long-lasting pathophysiological processes in the normal tissue and affect the health of the survivors with lifelong treatment-induced survivorship diseases. In a recent study, Steineck et al, identified five radiation-induced survivorship syndromes affecting bowel health in a cohort of gynecological cancer; urgency syndrome (30%), leakage syndrome (26%), excessive gas discharge(15%), excessive mucus discharge (16%) and blood discharge (10%). There is a lack of knowledge about how these side effects of cancer treatment affect the degree of work ability and return to work. Clinical experience suggests that many cancer survivors have reduced work ability. There is a need for scientific studies that shed light on the side effects of cancer treatment and their relation to work ability.