This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Unemployment, decreased income often follow thyroid cancer diagnosis in Israel
Unemployment and decreased income 2 years after a thyroid cancer diagnosis are common in Israel and may indicate a need for programs to facilitate return to full-time work, according to study findings published in Thyroid.
“Unemployment and decreased ability to work might be associated with medical conditions, but objective medical findings are not the only factors that predict the ability to return to work and earn income among cancer survivors,” the researchers wrote. “We found that both personal and environmental factors affected return to work and income, with the highest OR being for the association between baseline unemployment and further unemployment.”
Yakir Rottenberg, MD, MPH, of the department of Oncology at Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center and Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School in Israel, and colleagues evaluated data from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics 1995 National Census and the Israel National Cancer Registry updated to 2011 to assess unemployment and income changes 2 and 4 years after a thyroid cancer diagnosis. There were 417 participants with thyroid cancer and 1,277 matched controls without cancer.
Two years before diagnosis, unemployment rates in each group did not differ significantly, with 27.6% of the cancer group and 27.3% of the control group reporting unemployment. Two years after diagnosis, 34.3% of the cancer group and 29.2% of controls were not employed (P = .05); 33.6% of the cancer group and 29.9% of controls were not employed 4 years after the diagnosis (P = .16).
After adjusting for potential confounders, researchers found an increased risk for being unemployed among all patients with thyroid cancer and a significantly increased risk for being unemployed only among women. Significant links existed between being unemployed 2 years before the diagnosis and being unemployed 2 years after the diagnosis (OR = 11.69 for the entire population). Four years after diagnosis, researchers found no significant risk for being unemployed (OR = 1.3; 95% CI, 0.98-1.72). However, being unemployed 4 years after diagnosis was significantly linked to being unemployed 2 years before diagnosis (OR = 8.72).
After exclusion of participants who were not employed at baseline, researchers found that the cancer group was more likely to have decreased income 2 years after diagnosis (49%) compared with controls (38.4%; P = .001); the same was true for 4 years after diagnosis (cancer group, 47.7%; controls, 37.1%; P = .001).
“[Thyroid cancer] survivorship was associated with unemployment at 2 years and decreased income at 2 and 4 years after [thyroid cancer] diagnosis,” the researchers wrote. “Our findings suggest that interventions to enhance return to full-time work and improve [quality of life] are required for this population. Further research is needed, including an accurate evaluation of unemployment status before and at the time of diagnosis, to gain understanding of a better approach to improving the work capability of [thyroid cancer] survivors. In addition, further studies are needed to assess the potential of various treatments on work capability among [thyroid cancer] survivors.” – by Amber Cox
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.