Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of individual patients at baseline
| 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, primary school; intermediate=secondary school; high=tertiary school, university or postgraduate.
†Defined as at least 1 day of 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.
§Higher 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.