Importance of Job Demands for Rehabilitation Patients - Application of an Index According to Occupations

Objective To investigate the importance of job demands for rehabilitation patients. Methods A secondary data analysis of 2,089 rehabilitation patients of the Federal German Pension Insurance was conducted. The job exposure index of Kroll was used based on occupations. Results The prevalence of high job demands was 11.2%. The index correlated significantly with reha-relevant impairments. Furthermore, there was a significant association between high job demands and an unfavorable return-to-work prognosis at discharge from rehabilitation, also independently of the presence of self-reported severe restrictions of work ability. Conclusion The job exposure index reflects occupation-specific job demands of rehabilitation patients. The construction of the index based on the relevant occupation classifications enables its broad application in analyses using routinely collected health data.