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September 11, 2024
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Blue-collar workers more likely to miss work, quit due to psoriatic arthritis

Fact checked byShenaz Bagha
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Key takeaways:

  • Physically demanding jobs were linked to greater rates of work disability in patients with PsA.
  • Occupation type had no effect on response to PsA treatment.
Perspective from Karen McKerihan, MSN, NP-C

Blue-collar workers with psoriatic arthritis demonstrate an increased risk for work disability vs. white-collar workers with the same disease, according to data published in Clinical Rheumatology.

However, the researchers additionally concluded that occupation type does not appear to impact response to PsA treatment.

PsA increased work disability 84% among blue-collar workers and 27.9% among white-collar workers, and it increased the chance of quitting 19.1% among blue-collar workers and 7.8% among white-collar workers.
Data derived from Colla N, et al. Clin Rheumatol. 2024;doi:10.1007/s10067-024-07077-1.

“The pathogenesis of PsA is the result of a multifaceted interaction between genetic, environmental and unknown factors,” Nina Colla, of the department of rheumatology at University Hospital Zurich, in Switzerland, and colleagues wrote. “One proposed environmental trigger for inflammation in PsA is biomechanical stress, sometimes called the ‘deep Köbner phenomenon.’

“Despite these hypotheses, the direct implication of work-related physical demands in PsA patients remains unexplored,” they added. “It remains unclear whether PsA patients with high physical workloads experience increased disease activity or diminished treatment response.”

To examine the impact of occupation type — manual labor vs. more sedentary employment — on PsA disease activity, treatment response and related work disability, Colla and colleagues conducted an observational cohort study of data from the Swiss Clinical Quality Management in Rheumatic Diseases registry. The analysis included 564 adults with PsA (mean age, 46 years; 53% men), 71% of whom were white-collar workers, treated with biological or targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs between January 2000 and September 2020.

Jobs were classified as blue or white collar based on seven sectors, as well as patients’ reported level of physical stress at work. The main outcomes were 1-year remission rates, assessed via Disease Activity Score-28 with C-reactive protein, and work disability, defined as being absent from work due to PsA.

At baseline, disease activity was comparable between the two groups, with mean DAS28-CRPs of 3.3 for white-collar workers and 3.2 for manual laborers. However, the rate of work disability was higher among blue-collar workers, at 84% vs. 27.9% (P < .01), according to the researchers. In addition, blue-collar workers were more likely to quit their jobs due to PsA, at a rate of 19.1% vs. 7.8% for white-collar workers (P = .03).

Meanwhile, the 1-year remission analysis, which included 174 treatment-courses in 165 patients, revealed no difference between white- and blue-collar workers. Blue-collar work was associated with longer treatment retention (mean duration, 3.15 years vs. 2.15 years; P = .006) in a Kaplan-Meier analysis, but not in an adjusted Cox regression analysis (HR = 0.71; 95% CI, 0.48-1.05), according to the researchers.

“This study suggests that physically demanding occupations correlate with increased rates of work disability among PsA patients, particularly men,” Colla and colleagues wrote. “Further research is needed to fully understand the impact of physical workload on disease burden and to develop effective interventions for preventing long-term work disability among PsA patients.”