April/May 2009 (vol. 05/6)

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Research Plus

Cancer survival and employment

A meta-analysis of 26 papers (covering 36 studies) finds that working-age people who survive cancer are more likely to be unemployed compared with healthy individuals, and this is especially so for survivors of breast and gastrointestinal cancers. The studies, including 15 from Europe and 16 from the US, covered 20,366 cancer survivors and 157,603 healthy controls; average age at diagnosis was 40–56 years; and mean follow-up time after diagnosis was nine months to 15 years. Cancer survivors were more likely to be unemployed at follow-up (33.8%) than healthy controls (15.2%): pooled relative risk = 1.37. (95% confidence interval 1.21–1.55).

Journal of the American Medical Association 2009; 301(7): 753–762. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=183387

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Occupational Health at Work April/May 2009 (vol. 05/6) pp44