Employment and Gainful Earnings among those with Multiple Sclerosis.

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Employment and Gainful Earnings among those with Multiple Sclerosis.

Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2018 Dec 06;:

Authors: Krause JS, Dismuke-Greer CE, Jarnecke M, Li C, Reed KS, Rumrill P

Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To identify demographic, educational, and disease-related characteristics associated with the odds of employment and earnings among participants with multiple sclerosis (MS).
DESIGN: Cross-sectional using self-report assessment obtained by mail or online SETTING: Medical University in the southeastern United States.
PARTICIPANT: Participants with MS (n = 1059) were enrolled from a specialty hospital in the southeastern United States. All were adults under the age of 65 at the time of assessment.
INTERVENTIONS: NA MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Current employment status and earnings RESULTS: MS factors were highly related to employment, yet not as strongly to conditional earnings. Those with no symptoms reported 6.25 greater odds of employment than those with severe current symptoms. Compared with those with progressive MS, those with relapsing/remitting had a greater odds of employment (OR = 2.24). Participants with no perceived cognitive impairment had 1.83 greater odds of employment than those with moderate to severe perceived cognitive impairment. Those with less than 10 years since MS diagnosis had 2.74 greater odds of employment compared with those with more than 20 years since diagnosis. An absence of problematic fatigue was highly related to the probability of employment (OR = 5.01) and higher conditional earnings ($14,454), whereas the remaining MS variables were unrelated to conditional earnings. For non-MS variables, education was highly related to employment status and conditional earnings, as those with a postgraduate degree had 2.87 greater odds of employment and $44,346 greater earnings than those with no more than a high school certificate. Non-Hispanic Whites had 2.22 greater odds of employment and $16,118 greater conditional earnings than non-Hispanic Blacks, and men reported $30,730 more in conditional earnings than women.
CONCLUSIONS: MS indicators were significantly associated with employment status including time since diagnosis, fatigue, symptom severity, and presence of cognitive impairment. However, among those who were employed, conditional earnings were less highly related to these factors and more highly related to educational attainment.

PMID: 30529324 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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