OBJECTIVES : Growing numbers of cancer patients work throughout their treatment. We assessed work productivity impact in different cancer types

METHODS : Advanced breast (ABC), head and neck (HNC) and ovarian cancer (OC), and multiple myeloma (MM) patients’ data were collected via the Adelphi Real World Disease Specific Programmes, including the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) and Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI) tools, in EU5 and US between Mar2017–Feb2019. Regression analysis, controlling for age, co-morbidities and ECOG score, was used to predict how cancer type impacted work productivity.

RESULTS : Data were collected from 2816 patients (ABC:944, HNC:214, OC:852, MM:806). Mean age was 64 years, 75% of patients had ECOG 0-1 and 45% of patients were of working age (<65 years). 90% of working age patients had stage III-IV disease (advanced) (ABC:100%, HNC:100%, OC:96%, MM:49%).

In stage III-IV working age patients, 19% and 14% of patients worked full-time and part-time, respectively. 21%, 25%, 14% and 7% of patients were on long-term sick leave, homemakers, retired and unemployed, respectively. 59% of patients not working reported this was due to their disease with differences across cancer types: more OC and ABC patients were homemakers, more MM patients were working full-time, and more HNC and MM patients were on long-term sick leave (all p<0.0001).

In working age patients, regressions show overall WPAI was 41.8 for stage I, 23.0 for stage II, 50.1 for stage III and 45.0 for stage IV patients, respectively. WPAI was the highest in HNC patients across all stages. Absenteeism and activity impairment were the highest in MM patients. Presenteeism was the highest in OC patients (all p<0.05).

Activity impairment was present in 42.3% (SD:24.75) of all patients; no significant differences were observed between cancer types.

CONCLUSIONS : Cancer type and stage impact work productivity. Despite advances in treatments, patients experience difficulties in their working life.