100 Chapter 5 Breast cancer survivors were the largest cancer group in our sample. They had a significant lower risk of being assessed with no residual work capacity, and no significant associations with inability to work fulltime. This is not a surprising result, considering that studies have shown that the 5-year survival rate for breast cancer patients is high (88%) [29]. This implies that breast cancer patients might return to work after being treated for their cancer, and will not lose their total work capacity within foreseeable time. Although breast cancer survivors have increased physical impairment and physical health problems over a longer period of time after being diagnosed and treated, they do not have a consistently poorer psychosocial functioning [34]. On the other hand, a study by Dorland and colleagues showed that within a sample of breast cancer survivors who had returned to work, about 80% did have a persistently low and moderate to high work functioning over time. These results might suggest that there is still residual work capacity for this group, but there are work limitations and restrictions with regard to work functioning [16]. Compared to other cancers, in patients with respiratory cancers, the survival rate is relatively low (lung cancer: 20% 5-year survival, [29]) and the disease has an enormous (negative) impact on energy levels, employment, and earnings [20, 35]. This may explain that in our sample applicants with cancer of the respiratory organs had the highest risk of having no residual work capacity (OR 2.22). Additionally, 76.6% of the applicants with respiratory cancer and residual work capacity were assessed with inability to work fulltime. The lymphoid and haematopoietic cancer group, with cancer types like leukaemia and (non)Hodgkin lymphoma, had a significant low association (OR 0.46) with no residual work capacity. It also was the only cancer group with a significant positive association with inability to work fulltime. The fact that these patients have a relatively long survival (5 years survival rates from 24 to 87% leukaemia and 62–86% for (non) Hodgkin tumours [29]) with fatigue as the most prevalent long-term functional complication for non-Hodgkin survivors could be reflected in our results [34]. The latter study described that fatigue in patients after non-Hodgkin lymphoma may in part result from not returning to pre-diagnosis levels of physical activity despite overall good health [34]. Cancers of the locomotor system in our sample had the lowest significant association with inability to work fulltime. This is in line with the finding of our previous study on inability to work fulltime including all disease groups [28] where applicants with diseases of the locomotor system also significantly had the lowest odds for inability to work fulltime. In our previous study, we argued that musculoskeletal diseases are more likely responsible for physical work limitations than inability to work fulltime, which is in line
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