Earnings among people with multiple sclerosis compared to references, in total and by educational level and type of occupation: a population-based ...

A new interesting article has been published in BMJ Open. 2019 Jul 11;9(7):e024836. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-024836. and titled:

Earnings among people with multiple sclerosis compared to references, in total and by educational level and type of occupation: a population-based …

Authors of this article are:

Wiberg M, Murley C, Tinghög P, Alexanderson K, Palmer E, Hillert J, Stenbeck M, Friberg E.

A summary of the article is shown below:

OBJECTIVES: To investigate earnings among people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) before and after MS diagnosis compared with people without MS, and if identified differences were associated with educational levels and types of occupations. Furthermore, to assess the proportions on sickness absence (SA) and disability pension (DP) in both groups.DESIGN: Population-based longitudinal cohort study, 10 years before until 5 years after MS diagnosis.SETTING: Working-age population using microdata linked from nationwide Swedish registers.PARTICIPANTS: Residents in Sweden in 2004 aged 30-54 years with MS diagnosed in 2003-2006 (n=2553), and references without MS (n=7584) randomly selected by stratified matching.OUTCOME MEASURES: Quartiles of earnings were calculated for each study year prior to and following the MS diagnosis. Mean earnings, by educational level and type of occupation, before and after diagnosis were compared using t-tests. Tobit regressions investigated the associations of earnings with individual characteristics. The proportions on SA and/or DP, by educational level and type of occupation, for the diagnosis year and 5 years later were compared.RESULTS: Differences in earnings between PwMS and references were observed beginning 1 year before diagnosis, and increased thereafter. PwMS had lower mean earnings for the diagnosis year (difference=SEK 28 000, p<0.05), and 5 years after diagnosis, this difference had more than doubled (p<0.05). These differences remained after including educational level and type of occupation. Overall, the earnings of PwMS with university education and/or more qualified occupations were most like their reference peers. The proportions on SA and DP were higher among PwMS than the references.CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the PwMS' earnings are lower than the references' beginning shortly before MS diagnosis, with this gap increasing thereafter. Besides SA and DP, the results indicate that educational level and type of occupation are influential determinants of the large heterogeneity of PwMS' earnings.© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.
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This article is a good source of information and a good way to become familiar with topics such as: disability pension;earnings;multiple sclerosis;sick leave;social insurance;work.

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