RESEARCH - Job rates lower for people with arthritic diseases

[Guest guest]

Job rates lower for people with arthritic diseases

Last Updated: 2005-04-28 12:10:10 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New research shows that people with rheumatoid

arthritis and similar joint diseases have lower-than-average employment

rates -- though the impact the disorders have on working life can vary

widely from person to person.

Among more than 43,000 German adults with some form of inflammatory

rheumatic disease, employment rates were up to one-quarter lower than that

of the general population.

With certain conditions, however, job rates were closer to the norm. And

much depended on the duration of a person's condition, education level and

where in Germany a person lived.

Inflammatory rheumatic disease refers to a number of disorders marked by

chronic inflammation, pain and stiffness in the joints -- including

rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus, and systemic

sclerosis. Some of the conditions, such as lupus and systemic sclerosis,

also damage other structures and organs throughout the body.

In the new study, people with RA, lupus, systemic sclerosis or a condition

called Wegener's granulomatosis in which blood vessel inflammation leads to

joint pain and organ damage had significantly lower employment rates than

the general population.

On the other hand, men and women with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), which

primarily affects the spine, or arthritis related to the skin disease

psoriasis were more likely to be on the job. Their employment rates were 6

to 8 percent lower than the average for the German population, researchers

report in the April issue of the Journal of Rheumatology.

People with AS and psoriasis may have fared better employment-wise because

the effects of the disorders on the joints may be less severe, according to

study leader Dr. Wilfried Mau of -Luther University Halle-Wittenberg.

Across the various rheumatic diseases, the odds of unemployment also

depended on the duration of a person's disease. For example, people who had

had AS for less than 10 years had an employment rate comparable to the norm,

while those who'd had the disease for a longer period had a job rate that

was 9 to 12 percent lower than average.

People with RA -- an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system

mistakenly attacks the lining of the joints -- were showing a modest impact

on work ability within 5 years of diagnosis, but the effect grew stronger

over time. The employment rate among women who'd had the disease for more

than 10 years was more than 40 percent lower than the norm.

Job rates also depended on the region in which a person lived -- being lower

in economically depressed areas where general employment rates were lower.

And education was a prime factor as well. In general, men and women with

less than 10 years of education were one-third less likely to be employed

than their more educated peers.

Mau said employers should realize that people with rheumatic diseases are

typically " highly motivated to stay on the job, " and, with the help of some

work modifications, can keep up with or out-pace their coworkers.

SOURCE: Journal of Rheumatology, April 2005.

Not an MD

I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org