J. Suarez et al., FACTORS INFLUENCING THE RETURN TO WORK OF PATIENTS AFTER HIP-REPLACEMENT AND REHABILITATION, Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 77(3), 1996, pp. 269-272
Objective: To determine the incidence of medical and sociocultural fac
tors on the return to work of patients after hip replacement and rehab
ilitation treatment. Design: Case review. Frequency and association of
variables' analysis. Setting: The rehabilitation unit of a general ho
spital in Oviedo (Spain). This setting is a part of an institutional r
eferral center and is the only state-owned hospital that provides reha
bilitation treatment for hospitalized patients from a rural and urban
area of about 1,000,000 inhabitants. Patients: 747 patients of both se
xes, all of them working before receiving treatment, age range 18 to 6
4 years. Main Outcome Measures: Relationship of several variables: age
, sex, habitat, level of education, type of work, underlying illness,
walking ability, pain, and type of social security versus return to wo
rk. Results: At discharge, 25% of patients return to work. There is a
significant association (p < .001) between return to work and any of t
he following variables: underlying illness, kind of work, walking abil
ity, habitat, and educational level. Conclusion: The physiopathology o
f symptoms and signs of the patients is not the unique indicator of wh
ether a person will continue working after hip replacement and rehabil
itation treatment. Extramedical factors, such as social status, kind o
f work, and cultural background, are very influential. (C) 1996 by the
American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy
of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation