Return to Work Among Breast Cancer Survivors

Early detection and treatment of breast cancer has led many women to be able to return to work, particularly those with early-stage cancer.While medical advances have been great, disparities for African American women remain. A pilot project funded by the Healthier Workforce Center of the Midwestto Christine Ekenga, PhD, a faculty member at Washington University at St. Louis,is examining factors that influence return to work as well as the quality of life for early-stage breast cancer survivors. Dr. Ekenga and her colleagues have already found that African American women, women with more fatigue, and uninsured or publicly insured women were less likely to have returned to work two years after initial diagnosis. Early results from this study were presented at the 2nd International Symposium to Advance Total Worker Health in May 2018 and were also published in Cancer in May 2018.