In France alcohol is the second cause of death after smoking, and it is a main cause of absenteeism and disability at work. Over 50% of people who have not returned to work (RTW) after 6 months off never resume their professional activity.

The aim of this study is to identify factors affecting the RTW after a residential alcohol withdrawal.

This is a prospective, non-interventional nested study (within a prognostic study of relapse after inpatient alcohol withdrawal) conducted from September 2013 to February 2014 in the Psychiatry and Addictology department of Bichat University Hospital in Paris. All alcohol-dependent sick-listed workers, admitted for a residential alcohol withdrawal have been included. Baseline assessment included sociodemographic, occupational, somatic, psychiatric and addictologic characteristics. The influence of these variables on RTW after 6 months follow-up have been studied using survival analysis.

Among 107 eligible patients, 30 met the inclusion criteria and were followed up, and 22 (73.3%) had RTW before the end of the follow-up period. The median duration of sick-leave is 58.5 days, and the interquartile range is 15.5-246 days. The independent workers, employees on fixed-term contract, part-time employees and outdoor had shorter sick-leave. Severity of alcoholism, agoraphobia, residential withdrawal history, being sick-listed before hospitalization, longer duration of hospitalization and being transferred to aftercare service increased the duration of sick-leave.

This exploratory study identifies factors that impede and facilitate the RTW process after a residential alcohol withdrawal. Studies on a larger scale are needed to generalize the findings.