Work disability among cancer patients

Howard P. Greenwald, Susan J. Dirks, Edgar F. Borgatta, Ruth McCorkle, Michael C. Nevitt and Edward H. Yelin

Social Science & Medicine, 1989, vol. 29, issue 11, 1253-1259

Abstract: To identify factors affecting the ability of persons with recent cancer diagnoses to remain in the labor force and retain premorbid levels of work performance, the investigators analyzed data on 247 individuals with lung, pancreatic, prostatic, or cervical cancer. Subjects were selected from a population-based tumor registry. According to Pearson correlations, ordinary least squares multiple regression, and logistic analysis, physical factors related to disease were the strongest predictors of work disability, defined as either leaving the labor force or functioning less fully at work than before becoming ill. The strongest predictors of work disability were physical dysfunction measured by the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP) and disease stage. Social background factors such as age, sex, income, and education were not statistically significant predictors. Two job characteristics, (1) physical demands of work and (2) discretion over hours worked and how much work would be done, predicted work disability, the latter appearing to help prevent this condition. Strictly disease-related factors appear more important here in predicting work disability than in studies of other diseases. Still, it appears that increasing flexibility of working hours and the pace of work could help some individuals with cancer histories remain in the labor force. Unwillingness of employers to facilitate such accommodation where technically feasible may constitute a form of discrimination against the cancer patient.

Keywords: physical; function; disability; cancer; occupational; health; quality; of; life (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1989
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0277-9536(89)90065-8
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:29:y:1989:i:11:p:1253-1259

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().