Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of individual patients
| Care programme (n=227) | Usual care (n=206) | |
| Patient characteristics | ||
| Age (years) (mean±SD) | 46.1±7.3 | 45.6±6.7 |
| Dutch nationality | 220 (96.9%) | 202 (98.1%) |
| Internet use (days per week) | ||
| <1 | 2 (0.9%) | 3 (1.5%) |
| 1–2 | 9 (4.0%) | 10 (4.9%) |
| 3–5 | 45 (19.8%) | 42 (20.4%) |
| >5 | 171 (75.3%) | 151 (73.3%) |
| Education level* | ||
| Low | 25 (11.0%) | 17 (8.3%) |
| Intermediate | 88 (38.8%) | 100 (48.5%) |
| High | 114 (50.2%) | 89 (43.2%) |
| Surgery-related characteristics | ||
| Type of surgery | ||
| Adnexal surgery | 74 (32.6%) | 51 (24.8%) |
| Laparoscopic hysterectomy | 65 (28.6%) | 50 (24.3%) |
| Vaginal hysterectomy | 36 (15.9%) | 53 (25.7%) |
| Abdominal hysterectomy | 52 (22.9%) | 52 (25.2%) |
| Health-related characteristics | ||
| Perceived health status (mean±SD) | 75.8±16.5 | 76.9±16.7 |
| Work-related characteristics | ||
| Type of work | ||
| Salary employed | 194 (85.5%) | 175 (85.0%) |
| Self-employed | 28 (12.3%) | 28 (13.6%) |
| Voluntary work | 5 (2.2%) | 3 (1.5%) |
| Work hours per week (mean±SD) | 29.7±9.3 | 28.7±8.2 |
| Sick leave (3 months before surgery) | ||
| Absence from work† | 88 (38.8%) | 66 (32.0%) |
| Number of sick leave days (median (IQR)) | 4.0 (2–10) | 4.5 (2–11) |
| RTW expectation (long)‡ | 42 (18.5%) | 38 (18.4%) |
| RTW intention (low)§ | 45 (19.8%) | 67 (32.5%) |
Data are number of patients (%), unless otherwise indicated.
*Low=preschool or primary school; intermediate=secondary school; high=tertiary school, university or postgraduate.
†Defined as at least 1 day absence.
‡Defined as expectation longer than 3 weeks for adnexal surgery, longer than 6 weeks for laparoscopic or vaginal hysterectomy or longer than 8 weeks for abdominal hysterectomy.
§Higer scores indicate a higher intention to return to work, despite symptoms (range 1-5). A low intention was defined as score 1 or 2.
RTW, return to work.