ArticleOccupational and environmental medicine2021
Does gradually returning to work improve time to sustainable work after a work-acquired musculoskeletal disorder in British Columbia, Canada? A matched cohort effectiveness study.
Article in Occupational and environmental medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Successful Strategies for Occupational Health and Safety in Small and Medium Enterprises: Insights for a Sustainable Return to Work.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2025Review
- Return to Work After Work-Related Injuries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Incidence and Determinants.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Health consequences of graded, full, and no sickness absence among workers with musculoskeletal disorders: health profiles and six-months symptom changes of patients referred to Norwegian outpatient clinics for chronic neck and back pain.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2025Article
- Predictors of return to work among mine workers following on-duty injury: A scoping review.The South African journal of physiotherapy · 2025Review
- Labour market trajectories after part-time sickness absence: a nationwide cohort study from Finland.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Differences in Modified-Return-to-Work by Immigration Characteristics Among a Cohort of Workers in British Columbia, Canada.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2023Article
- Working life expectancy and working years lost among users of part- and full-time sickness absence in Finland.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2023Article
- Article
- Evaluating effectiveness of an integrated return-to-work and vocational rehabilitation program on work disability duration in the construction sector.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2022Article
- Associations of employment sector and occupational exposures with full and part-time sickness absence: random and fixed effects analyses on panel data.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2022Article
- Article
- Differences in Work Disability Duration for Immigrants and Canadian-Born Workers in British Columbia, Canada.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThis study investigates if gradual return to work (GRTW) is associated with full sustainable return to work (RTW) for seriously injured workers with a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD), in British Columbia, Canada.
methodsThis is an effectiveness study using a retrospective cohort study design. Accepted workers' compensation lost-time claims were extracted for workers with an MSD who were on full work disability for at least 30 days, between 2010 and 2015 (n=37 356). Coarsened exact matching yielded a final matched cohort of 12 494 workers who experienced GRTW at any point 30 days post-injury and 12 494 workers without any GRTW. The association between GRTW and sustainable RTW through to end of 12 months was estimated with multivariable quantile regression.
resultsWorkers who were provided with GRTW experienced more time-loss days until sustainable RTW between the 2nd and 5th months after the first time-loss day (<50th quantile of time loss), but less time-loss days until sustainable RTW between the 6th and 12th months of work disability (70th quantile of time loss), with the largest effect for women, workers with soft-tissue injuries and workers in the manufacturing or trades sector (all in the 60th and 70th percentile, after 6-7 months of time loss).
conclusionsFor seriously injured workers with at least 30 days of disability due to a work-acquired MSD, the effect of GRTW becomes apparent at longer disability durations (more than 6 months), with larger beneficial effects for women, workers with soft-tissue injuries and for trade and manufacturing sectors.
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