Working with Cancer: Health and Disability Disparities among Employed Cancer Survivors in the U.S.

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Prev Med
• Personal Author:
  Clarke, Tainya C. ; Soler-Vila, Hosanna ; Lee, David J. ; Arheart, Kristopher L. ; Ocasio, Manuel A. ; LeBlanc, William G. ; Fleming, Lora E.
• Description:
  Introduction
  
  Approximately 40% of Americans annually diagnosed with cancer are working-age adults. Using a nationally representative database, we characterized differences in health status and occupation of working cancer survivors and persons without cancer.
  
  Methods
  
  Cross-sectional data pooled from the 1997–2009 US National Health Interview Survey for adults with self-reported physician-diagnosed cancer (n=22,952) and those without (n=358,495), were analyzed. Multivariable logistic regression was used to compare the health and disability status of employed cancer survivors across occupational sectors relative to workers without a cancer history and unemployed cancer survivors.
  
  Results
  
  Relative to workers with no cancer history, cancer survivors were more likely to be white-collar workers and less likely to be service workers. Working cancer survivors were significantly less likely than unemployed survivors, but more likely than workers with no cancer history, to report poor-fair health (0.25; 0.24–0.26) and (2.06;1.96–2.17) respectively, and ≥2 functional limitations (0.37;0.35–0.38) and (1.72;1.64–1.80) respectively. Among employed cancer survivors, blue-collar workers reported worse health outcomes, yet they reported fewer workdays missed than white-collar workers.
  
  Conclusion
  
  Blue-collar cancer survivors are working with high levels of poor health and disability. These findings support the need for workplace accommodations for cancer survivors in all occupational sectors, especially blue-collar workers.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Adult Aged Cross-Sectional Studies Disability Evaluation Employment Female Health Status Disparities Health Surveys Humans Male Middle Aged Neoplasms Occupations Socioeconomic Factors Survivors Young Adult

  More +
• Source:
  Prev Med. 2011; 53(4-5):331-334
• Pubmed ID:
  21884724
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC3208802
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  1F31CA153937/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States ; F31 CA153937-01/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States ; R01OH03915/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States ; OH003915-06A1/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States ; F31 CA153937/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States ; OH003915/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States ; R01 OH003915/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States ; R01 OH003915-06A1/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Volume:
  53
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:d7faf504539265a011a627c23d1f9d5121a78aaf01361f37117b881e854a7af4
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/33270/cdc_33270_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 285.24 KB ]