[Importance of Job Demands for Rehabilitation Patients - Application of an Index According to Occupations]. / Bedeutung von Arbeitsbelastungen bei Rehabilitanden ­ Anwendung eines Index für Berufstätigkeiten.

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.