Clinical and socioeconomic factors predicting return-to-work times after cholecystectomy

Background: Cholecystectomy, a type of surgery commonly performed globally, has possible mutual effects on the socioeconomic conditions of different countries due to various postoperative recovery times. Aims: This study evaluated the medical and socioeconomic factors affecting delayed return-to-work (RTW) time after elective cholecystectomy. Methods: This retrospective study analysed patients who underwent elective cholecystectomy for benign gallbladder diseases from January 2022 to April 2023. The patients' medical and socioeconomic data were collected to investigate the clinical and socioeconomic factors correlated with RTW time of >30 days after surgery. Results: This study included 180 consecutive patients. Significant correlations were found between delayed RTW time (>30 days) and age (odds ratio [OR]: 1.059, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.008-1.113, P = 0.024), lack of medical insurance (OR: 2.935, 95% CI 1.189-7.249, P = 0.02) and high-intensity labour jobs (OR: 3.649, 95% CI 1.495-8.909, P = 0.004). Patients without medical insurance (26.6 versus 18.9 days) and those with high-intensity labour jobs (23.9 versus 18.8 days) had a higher mean RTW time than those with insurance and a less-intense labour job (P < 0.001). Conclusions: After cholecystectomy, older age, lack of medical insurance and high-intensity labour job were correlated with a delayed RTW time. Informing patients about their expected RTW time after surgery can help reduce costs.