Older Cancer Survivors Remain Employed

Ivanhoe Newswire
Thursday, July 5, 2007; 12:00 AM

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A diagnosis of cancer doesn't necessarily mean an end to an older patient's career.

A new study from Pennsylvania State University finds cancer survivors between the ages of 55 and 65 who stay cancer-free for two to six years after they're diagnosed are just as likely to be working as their peers who have not had cancer. But it also finds patients recently diagnosed with new cancers are less likely to be working.

Researchers conducted annual telephone interviews with 504 patients who were working when they were diagnosed with cancer. They compared the results to data from a study of 3,903 people of about the same ages who never had cancer.

The research shows 63.4 percent of men and 51 percent of women in the cancer-free group were working full-time compared to 51.4 percent of men and 48.3 percent of women who were overall cancer survivors. Among those who had no new cancers, 55.8 percent of men and 50.9 percent of women were working full-time. But only 34.2 percent of men and 36.5 percent of women in the group of cancer survivors diagnosed with new cancers were.

"What this is saying is that there is every reason to believe that survivors will continue to be productive workers and will stick with their employer," lead author Pamela Farley Short, Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University, was quoted as saying.

The study also found no significant differences in the average number of hours worked per week between the control group -- 33 and 26.8 hours per week for men and women respectively -- and the survivors with no new cancers -- 30.1 and 26.4 hours respectively. But there was a big difference for the group of survivors with new cancers -- weekly employment was 20.4 hours per male survivor and 20.5 per female survivor.

The five-year survival rate of cancer has increased to 65 percent. There are more than 10 million cancer survivors in the United States.

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SOURCE: Health Services Research, published online June 27, 2007