abstract: 'Despite the growing recognition that work can contribute to the

  development of musculoskeletal disorders,(1,8) there are almost no data

  on whether and how physicians investigate the contribution of work to

  patients'' health status or the influence of health status on work

  performance. This is particularly true of primary care, where much of

  the medical care for patients with work-related low back pain is

  provided.(51) As more patients with musculoskeletal injuries show up in

  primary care settings, it will become important to document

  health-related work outcomes and incorporate into practice outcome tools

  that enable the physician to obtain a quick and accurate accounting of

  needed information about patients'' work.

  Health-related work outcomes relate to a person''s labor market status:

  Is a person working or not working? How well is he or she working? Did

  the person return to a job of pay and skill comparable to the preinjury

  job? Outcomes can incorporate time: How long has a person been out of

  work? How many hours, days, or weeks has a person been reported absent?

  Is the person working full- or part-time? How many hours does the person

  perform at full effectiveness? Finally, health-related work outcomes can

  capture the interplay between a person''s health status and work role

  performance: How difficult is it for a person with a given health status

  to perform work activities? Typically, health-related work outcomes have

  not specifically referred to unpaid work activities, such as volunteer

  work or household labor. The authors support the importance of capturing

  both paid and unpaid work outcomes, but in this article, paid work is

  the focus.

  Multiple publications in the literature contribute conceptually and

  methodologically to the health-related work outcomes field. These range

  from industrial psychology and labor economics to health services

  research, epidemiology, and pharmacoeconomics. In this paper, a window

  into health-related work outcomes research is created by considering the

  reasons for measuring these outcomes and briefly reviewing and

  illustrating several classes of measures. The advantages and limitations

  of each measure will be discussed, as the authors draw examples from own

  work. Although prior work has focused on upper extremity musculoskeletal

  disorders, the general principles for using health-related work outcomes

  are similar for researchers studying back injuries and disorders. In

  addition, a new work-related health outcome tool for measuring

  successful return to work (RTW) is discussed to illustrate a new class

  of measures, Hereafter, health-related work outcomes as are referred to

  as work outcomes.'
affiliation: 'Amick, BC (Corresponding Author), Univ Texas, Hlth Sci Ctr, Sch Publ
  Hlth, Suite E909,POB 20186, Houston, TX 77225 USA.

  Univ Texas, Hlth Sci Ctr, Sch Publ Hlth, Houston, TX 77225 USA.

  Inst Work \& Hlth, Toronto, ON, Canada.

  New England Med Ctr, Div Clin Care Res, Hlth Inst, Boston, MA 02111 USA.

  Tufts Sch Med, Boston, MA USA.

  Hlth \& Work Outcomes, Brunswick, ME USA.

  Robert B Brigham Multipurpose Arthrit \& Musculosk, Boston, MA USA.

  Brigham \& Womens Hosp, Div Rheumatol Immunol \& Allergy, Boston, MA 02115 USA.'
author: Amick, BC and Lerner, D and Rogers, WH and Rooney, T and Katz, JN
author_list:
- family: Amick
  given: BC
- family: Lerner
  given: D
- family: Rogers
  given: WH
- family: Rooney
  given: T
- family: Katz
  given: JN
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1097/00007632-200012150-00010
files: []
issn: 0362-2436
journal: SPINE
keywords-plus: 'LOW-BACK-PAIN; MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS; INTERVENTION PROGRAM;

  DISABILITY; MANAGEMENT; EMPLOYEES; VALIDITY; TRIAL; CARE'
language: English
month: DEC 15
number: '24'
number-of-cited-references: '55'
orcid-numbers: Lerner, Debra/0000-0001-7749-1387
pages: 3152-3160
papis_id: f2a61bc0abf70f7ca01ac51d2767aadc
ref: Amick2000reviewhealthrelated
researcherid-numbers: Lerner, Debra/GZK-6184-2022
times-cited: '164'
title: A review of health-related work outcome measures and their uses, and recommended
  measures
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000166243700009
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '16'
volume: '25'
web-of-science-categories: Clinical Neurology; Orthopedics
year: '2000'