Factors related to difficulties with employment in patients with multiple sclerosis

Abstract

We assess the knowledge available on the difficulties experienced by multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in work-related activities. A literature review was carried out using the keywords 'multiple sclerosis' and 'employment' or 'work' through PubMed and EMBASE. Papers reporting patient-derived data on difficulties at work as primary or secondary outcome measures and published in the period 2002-December 2011 were searched. A total of 26 papers were selected, for a total of 32 507 patients (mean age 46.2 years; 42.1% with relapsing-remitting MS). Most papers reported observational studies or cross-sectional surveys focused on health-related quality of life and MS costs. Symptoms more frequently addressed are fatigue, mobility and cognitive impairments. Limited research has been carried out on the working environment. We found a relatively small number of papers published in the last 10 years on the difficulties that patients with MS can experience at work, and this kind of information always appeared as a secondary outcome. In general, it is possible to affirm that MS has a strong impact on patients' employment status, as the mean unemployment rate was 59%. Research on factors promoting maintenance of remunerative employment is required.

Employment retention expectations of working adults with multiple sclerosis: A multinomial logistic regression analysis

“…Those expecting to reduce their job responsibilities perceived themselves as more severely disabled from their MS symptoms and as more constrained by lack of accessible housing. Adults with MS expecting to exit the workforce in 2 to 5 years presented a profile consistent with the literature pertaining to predictors of employment and unemployment (Honarmand, Akbar, Kou, & Feinstein, 2011;Moore et al, 2013;Schiavelin et al, 2013;Smith & Arnett, 2005). They were older and perceived that they were affected more severely by their MS symptoms, particularly as those symptoms affected their mobility, which is consistent with findings that unemployed adults with MS had the highest level of incapacity in comparisons with employed adults with MS (full-time or part-time).…”

“…Occurring typically in the peak years of a person's career development, MS is characterized by a wide variety of symptoms ranging from diffuse fatigue to cognitive limitations (Schiavelin et al, 2013). In too many cases, MS, like many chronic illnesses, results in premature exit from the workforce due to both the complexity and unpredictable nature of its symptoms (Antao et al, 2013;Krause, Kern, Horntrich, & Ziemssen, 2013).…”

Validity and Reliability of the Turkish Version of the Monitoring My Multiple Sclerosis Scale

“…Lower scores of energy subscale in female and married patients were expected as these groups have more responsibilities in daily life. Higher scores of all the subscales of MMMS in educated and working group is a comparable result reported in many quality of life studies (2,31,32). Lower mean scores on the MMMS scores for SPMS participants compared to RRMS participants further supports the construct validity of the MMMS scale.…”

Workers with disability: the case of multiple sclerosis

“…Age, gender, education have also been variably found to predict employment status in PwMS [6,12,[14][15][16]. Some studies showed clinical factors as MS-related symptoms, MS form, disability, disease duration have been found to predict employment status [12][13][14][15]17]. Other factors, which have been explored and found to be predictive of employment outcomes in published studies, included mostly job characteristics [18].…”

“…Previous studies showed that both demographic variables, disease-related and workplace-related factors play a role in employment's loss by people with MS [13]. Age, gender, education have also been variably found to predict employment status in PwMS [6,12,[14][15][16].…”