Does hospital discharge policy influence sick-leave patterns in the case of female breast cancer?

Women treated with breast-conserving surgery had a 54.7-day (−71.9 ≤ CI95% ≤ −37.5) shorter sick-leave period than those with more invasive surgery. The day-surgery cases had 24.3 (−47.5 ≤ CI95% ≤ −1.1) days shorter sick-leave than those who received overnight care. The effect of the hospital median length of stay (LOS) was U-shaped, suggesting that hospitals with a median LOS that is either short or long are associated with longer sick-leave. In the intermediate range, women treated in hospitals with a median LOS of 2 days had 22 days longer sick-leave than those treated in hospitals with a mean LOS of 3 days. This is possibly a sign of sub-optimising.