Education as important predictor for successful employment in adults with congenital heart disease worldwide
Maayke A. Sluman1,2, Silke Apers3,4, Judith K. Sluiter1,*, Karen Nieuwenhuijsen1, Philip Moons4,5, Koen Luyckx6,7, Adrienne H. Kovacs8,9, Corina Thomet10, Werner Budts11, Junko Enomoto12, Hsiao‐Ling Yang13, Jamie L. Jackson14, Paul Khairy15, Stephen C. Cook16, Raghavan Subramanyan17, Luis Alday18, Katrine Eriksen19, Mikael Dellborg20,21, Malin Berghammer5,22, Eva Mattsson23, Andrew S. Mackie24, Samuel Menahem25, Maryanne Caruana26, Kathy Gosney27, Alexandra Soufi28, Susan M. Fernandes29, Kamila S. White30, Edward Callus31, Shelby Kutty32, Berto J. Bouma33, Barbara J.M. Mulder33
Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.14, No.3, pp. 362-371, 2019, DOI:10.1111/chd.12747
Abstract Background: Conflicting results have been reported regarding employment status
and work ability in adults with congenital heart disease (CHD). Since this is an impor‐
tant determinant for quality of life, we assessed this in a large international adult CHD
cohort.
Methods: Data from 4028 adults with CHD (53% women) from 15 different countries
were collected by a uniform survey in the cross‐sectional APPROACH International
Study. Predictors for employment and work limitations were studied using general
linear mixed models.
Results: Median age was 32 years (IQR 25‐42) and 94% of patients had at least a high
school degree. Overall… More >