Work disability before and after a major cardiovascular event: a ten-year study using nationwide medical and insurance registers

We examined the trajectories of work disability before and after IHD and stroke events. New IHD (n = 13521) and stroke (n = 7162) cases in 2006–2008 were retrieved from nationwide Swedish hospital records and their annual work disability days five years before and after the date of diagnosis were retrieved from a nationwide disability register. There was no pre-event differences in disability days between the IHD and stroke cases and five years prior to the event, they were close to those observed in the general population. In the first post-event year, the adjusted mean days increased to 83.9 (95% CI 80.6–86.5) in IHD; to 179.5 (95% CI 172.4–186.8) in stroke, a six-fold increase in IHD and 14-fold in stroke. Work disability leveled off among the IHD cases but not among those who had stroke. The highest disability levels for the fifth post-event year after a stroke event was associated with pre-existing diabetes (146.9), mental disorder (141.2), non-employment (137.0), and immigrant status (117.9). In a working-age population, the increase in work disability after a cardiovascular event decreases close to the pre-event level in IHD but remains particularly high after stroke; among patients with comorbid depression or diabetes, immigrants, and those not in employment.