Occupation in spinal cord injury patients in Turkey

Study design: A cross-sectional survey. Objectives: To investigate the changes in the occupation of patients after spinal cord injury (SCI) and the factors that cause this change. Subjects: The study involved 192 Turkish patients (41 female, 151 male) who had suffered SCI. The mean age of patients was 36.1 +/- 12.0 years. The mean follow-up time was 43.4 +/- 38.0 months. Before injury, 138 patients were employed in gainful occupations, 26 patients were housewives, 10 were retired, 7 were students and 11 patients were unemployed. Only 15 patients (7.8%) returned to their original occupations after injury. Thirteen patients (6.8%) are currently working in another job; 1 patient (0.5%) is a student; 10 (5.2%) are retired as was earlier; 40 (20.8%) are retired on grounds of disability; 26 (13.5%) are housewives; and 87 patients (45.3%) are currently unemployed. Methods: Prospective data collection through a face-to-face interview on an established SCI Turkish sample. Results: In our study, the rate of returning to work was found to be 14.6%. In the evaluation of factors affecting return to work after injury, educational level (P = 0.00), pre-injury employment (P = 0.01) and bladder-emptying method (P = 0.03) were statistically significantly correlated with return to work. Conclusion: In this study, education, pre-injury employment and bladder-emptying method were found to be important factors in returning to work after SCI. Spinal Cord (2009) 47, 709-712; doi:10.1038/sc.2009.79; published online 30 June 2009