Measuring the social impact of return-to-work in cancer patients

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K09973
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 58010:Medical management and medical sociology-related
• Research Institution: Kagawa University
• Principal Investigator: Hirao Tomohiro 香川大学, 医学部, 教授 (20325335)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 鈴木 裕美 香川大学, 医学部, 助教 (00644733) ; 神田 かなえ 香川大学, 医学部, 助教 (60778629)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: がん / 労働生産性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Around 170,000 working people in Japan become cancer survivors every year. In recent years, support has been provided for people affected by cancer to return to work (RTW). However, the social and economic impact has rarely been studied in Japan. The purpose of this study was to clarify the social and economic impact of RTW for cancer patients.
An internet-based patient panel survey and a patient survey at cancer treatment base hospitals were conducted. (1) The average income one year after diagnosis was 66% of the previous year. (2) Compared to non-cancer survivors, the labour productivity of cancer survivors increased in the first year of illness, but there were no significant differences in presenteeism or absenteeism after the second year of illness. This suggests that the support for RTW is considered to be a very important measure for both labour and management, and thus society as a whole.

Free Research Field

社会医学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

がん罹患者の復職支援の意義について調査研究を行った。その結果、1.わが国において、診断から1年後の平均所得は前年の66％であった。2.がん生存者の労働生産性は、がん未経験者と比べて、罹患1年目においてアブセンティーズム（休業による損失）は増加するが、プレゼンティーズム（パフォーマンス低下による損失）及び罹患2年目以降のアブセンティーズムには有意な差がなかった。
このことより、がん生存者に対する復職支援は、労使双方、さらには社会的に大変重要な施策であることが示唆された。