Return to work following robot-assisted laparoscopic and open retropubic radical prostatectomy: A single-center cohort study to compare duration of sick leave

Purpose

To compare the duration of sick leave in patients with localized prostate cancer after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) and open retropubic RP (ORP) at a German high-volume prostate cancer center.

Methods

The data of 1,415 patients treated with RP at Martini Klinik, Prostate Cancer Center between 2012 and 2016 were, retrospectively, analyzed. Information on employment status, monthly revenues and days of work missed due to sickness were assessed via online questionnaire. Additional data were retrieved from our institutional database.Medians and interquartile ranges (IQR) were reported for continuous data. Cox proportional hazard analysis was performed to compare both surgical techniques for return to work time after RP.

Results

Median time elapsed between surgery and return to work comprised 42 days in patients undergoing RARP (IQR: 21–70) and ORP (IQR: 28–84, P = 0.05). In Cox regression analysis, surgical approach showed no impact on return to work time (RARP vs. ORP hazard ratio = 1, 95% CI: 0.91–1.16, P = 0.69). Return to work time was significantly associated with employment status, physical workload and monthly income (all P<0.001). Limitation of this study is the nonrandomized design in a single-center.

Conclusions

As the surgical approach did not show any influence on the number of days missed from work in patients undergoing RP, no superiority of either RARP or ORP could be identified for return to work time in a German cohort. Both surgical approaches are safe options usually allowing the patients to resume normal activities including work after an appropriate convalescence period.