Table 1 Characteristics of the study participants (N = 730)
| Â | Leave of absence | Discontinued working | Continued working | Changed job | P-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|  | (N = 134) | (N = 211) | (N = 340) | (N = 45) | |
Demographic factors | |||||
 Age (years), mean (SDa) | 49.9 (8.8) | 53.5 (8.9) | 53.2 (8.5) | 52.6 (8.9) | 0.001 |
 Sex, male | 55 (41.0) | 71 (33.6) | 246 (72.4) | 31 (68.9) |  < 0.001 |
 Marital status, married | 110 (82.1) | 171 (81.0) | 303 (89.1) | 33 (73.3) |  < 0.001 |
 Monthly family income |  |  |  |  |  < 0.001 |
  < $3,000 | 51 (38.1) | 118 (55.9) | 71 (20.9) | 18 (40.0) |  |
   ≥ $3,000 | 81 (60.4) | 79 (37.4) | 266 (78.2) | 26 (57.8) |  |
  Unknown | 2 (1.5) | 14 (6.6) | 3 (0.9) | 1 (2.2) |  |
 Principal wage earner |  |  |  |  |  < 0.001 |
  Patient alone | 46 (34.3) | 49 (23.2) | 203 (59.7) | 27 (60.0) |  |
  Patient and other family members | 21 (15.7) | 13 (6.2) | 82 (24.1) | 9 (20.0) |  |
  Other family members | 63 (47.0) | 142 (67.3) | 52 (15.3) | 9 (20.0) |  |
  Unknown | 4 (3.0) | 7 (3.3) | 3 (0.9) | 0 (0) |  |
 Education |  |  |  |  | 0.14 |
   < high school | 15 (11.2) | 37 (17.5) | 32 (9.4) | 4 (8.9) |  |
   ≥ high school | 119 (88.8) | 173 (82) | 307 (90.3) | 41 (91.1) |  |
  Unknown | 0 (0) | 1 (0.5) | 1 (0.3) | 0 (0) |  |
 Job type at diagnosis |  |  |  |  | 0.019 |
  White collar | 83 (61.9) | 118 (55.9) | 235 (69.1) | 27 (60.0) |  |
  Service or sales | 24 (17.9) | 49 (23.2) | 39 (11.5) | 9 (20.0) |  |
  Blue collar | 26 (19.4) | 44 (20.9) | 66 (19.4) | 9 (20.0) |  |
Clinical factors | |||||
 Cancer type |  |  |  |  |  < 0.001 |
  Breast cancer | 58 (43.3) | 85 (40.3) | 51 (15.0) | 7 (15.6) |  |
  Pancreatobiliary cancer | 9 (6.7) | 13 (6.2) | 49 (14.4) | 9 (20.0) |  |
  Lung/esophagus cancer | 26 (19.4) | 25 (11.8) | 75 (22.1) | 8 (17.8) |  |
  Urologic cancer | 6 (4.5) | 8 (3.8) | 87 (25.6) | 9 (20.0) |  |
  Colorectal cancer | 10 (7.5) | 26 (12.3) | 19 (5.6) | 2 (4.4) |  |
  Gastric cancer | 5 (3.7) | 12 (5.7) | 17 (5.0) | 1 (2.2) |  |
  Liver cancer | 5 (3.7) | 8 (3.8) | 14 (4.1) | 3 (6.7) |  |
  Others | 15 (11.2) | 34 (16.1) | 28 (8.2) | 6 (13.3) |  |
 Disease stage at diagnosis |  |  |  |  |  < 0.001 |
  Stage I | 38 (28.4) | 50 (23.7) | 146 (42.9) | 16 (35.6) |  |
  Stage II | 38 (28.4) | 63 (29.9) | 86 (25.3) | 11 (24.4) |  |
  Stage III | 33 (24.6) | 57 (27.0) | 47 (13.8) | 6 (13.3) |  |
  Stage IV | 16 (11.9) | 19 (9.0) | 16 (4.7) | 1 (2.2) |  |
  Unknown | 9 (6.7) | 22 (10.4) | 45 (13.2) | 11 (24.4) |  |
 Experienced cancer recurrence | 30 (22.4) | 59 (28.0) | 48 (14.1) | 8 (17.8) | 0.001 |
 Time since diagnosis (months) | 7.0 (3.5–13.1) | 14.4 (6.0–31.2) | 20.7 (8.5–85.1) | 37.4 (27.6–50.4) |  < 0.001 |