Why the study?
The study evaluated work intensity, exercise tolerance, and mental health among workers with heart disease, and assessed the relationship between return to work status and mental health changes.
Does returning to a job with excessive workload beyond measured exercise tolerance worsen mental health in workers with heart disease?
Does returning to a job with excessive workload beyond measured exercise tolerance worsen mental health in workers with heart disease?
Returning to work with an intensity exceeding exercise tolerance is associated with deteriorated mental health and lower return-to-work rates in patients with heart disease.
Should not yet alter RTW counseling; leaves open whether matching job intensity to CPET AT prevents mental-health decline.
OBJECTIVE: We evaluated work intensity, exercise tolerance, and mental health among workers with heart disease and assessed the relationship between return to work (RTW) status and changes in mental health 3 months post-discharge. METHODS: Patients were enrolled from 2014 to 2019. Data were collected on admission and 3 months post-discharge. Mental health was assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Jobs were defined as "reasonable workload (RW)" or "over workload (OW)" based on metabolic equivalents. RESULTS: Twenty-six patients responded (81.3%). RTW after 3 months was higher in the RW group (100%) than in the OW group (63.6%). Mental health in the OW group significantly deteriorated compared with baseline and was higher than that in the RW group. CONCLUSIONS: Patients whose work intensity was higher than their exercise tolerance had worsened mental health 3 months post-discharge.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Kuhara et al. (2022) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: