Factors affecting cancer survivors' employment and work ability

Figures & data

Table I.  Characteristics of studies on cancer survivors' employment published in 2002–2006.

Authors and publication year	Study design	Study population	Year(s) of diagnosis	Time of the follow-up	Controlled confounders
Bradley et al. 2005 USA [7]	population-based follow-up study	267 men with prostate cancer and 539 referents	2001–2002	12 months	age, marital status, education, number of children, income, job type
Bradley and Bednarek 2002, USA [3]	population-based follow-up study	253 people with lung, colorectal, breast, and prostate cancer	1992–1994	5–7 years	–
Bouknight et al. 2006 USA [16]	population-based follow-up study	416 women with breast cancer	2001–2002	18 months	–
Drolet et al. 2005 Canada [14]	population-based retrospective follow-up study	646 women with breast cancer and 890 referents	1996–1997	3 years	Age, co-morbidity, living with a partner, income, job experience, job type, hours worked, belonging to a union, sampling time
Hewitt et al. 2003, USA [8]	population-based cross-sectional study	4 878 people with all cancer types and 90 737 people without history of cancer	1998–2000	–	sociodemographic characteristics and the presence of comorbid conditions
Langeveld et al. 2002 Netherlands [4]	hospital-based cross-sectional study	500 people with different types of childhood cancer (e.g.sarcomas, leukemia, brain tumour or Hodgkin's disease) and 1092 referents	1963–1992	–	–
Nagarajan et al. 2003 USA [13]	population based cohort study	694 people with childhood cancer (sarcomas)	1970–1986	16 (median year from the diagnosis)	Age at the questionnaire completion, time since diagnosis
Short et al. 2005 USA [5]	population based cohort study	1 433 people with 11 different cancer types	1997–1999	1–5 years	time since diagnosis
Spelten et al. 2003 Netherlands [15]	hospital based prospective cohort study	235 people with breast carcinoma, gastro-intestinal cancer, and cancer of the genitals, and haematology	no information available	6, 12 and 18 months	Time since diagnosis, age, gender
Taskila et al. 2007 Finland [12]	hospital based cross-sectional study	591 people with breast, testis, prostate cancer and lymphomas and 757 referents	1997–2001	1–6 years	Age, education, other diseases
Taskila-Åbrandt et al. 2004, Finland [2]	population based study	12 542 people with all cancer types and the equal number of referents	1992–1993	2–3 years	age, gender, calendar time
Yabroff et al. 2004 USA [6]	cross-sectional population based study	1 823 people with all cancer types (except melanomas) and 5 469 referents	no information available	–	age, gender, and educational level

Table II.  Summary of the results of studies on cancer survivors' employment and factors affecting employment and work ability.

		Factors affecting employment and work ability
Authors and publication year	Employment of cancer patients vs. referents (%)	disease-related factors	sociodemographic factors	work-related factors
Bradley et al. 2005 [7]	81 vs. 86	treatment, stage of disease	age, education, occupation	physical workload, heavy lifting, stooping, keeping up with others, learning new things
Bradley and Bednarek 2002 [3]	67	cancer type	age, ethnical background, education	heavy lifting, keep pace with others
Bouknight et al. 2006 [16]	83	health status, stage of the disease	age, race, education	heavy lifting, employer accommodation for the illness, perceived discrimination at work
Drolet et al. 2005 [14]	80 vs. 85	recurrence of disease	age, union membership, income	–
Hewitt et al. 2003 [8]	–	cancer type, other diseases	age, education	–
Langeveld et al. 2002 [4]	53 vs. 75	–	–	–
Nagarajan et al. 2003 [13]	83	–	education, gender, having health insurance, marital status	–
Short et al. 2005 [5]	84	cancer type, stage, other diseases, recurrence of the disease	age, gender	–
Spelten et al. 2003 [15]	64	cancer type, treatment, fatigue, depression, physical complaints	age	physical workload
Taskila et al. 2007 [12]		treatment, other diseases	age, education	social climate at work, commitment to work organization, social support from work place
Taskila-Åbrandt et al. 2004 [2]	64 vs. 73	cancer type	education, occupation	–
Yabroff et al. 2004 [6]	41 vs. 46	cancer type, health status, other diseases, stage of the disease, time since diagnosis	–	–

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Taskila-Åbrandt T, Martikainen R, Virtanen SV, Pukkala E, Hietanen P, Lindbohm ML. The impact of education and occupation on the employment status of cancer survivors. Eur J Cancer 2004; 40: 2488–93

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Yabroff KR, Lawrence WF, Clauser S, Davis WW, Brown ML. Burden of illness in cancer survivors: Findings from a population-based national sample. J Natl Cancer Inst 2004; 96: 1322–30

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