Many cancer survivors go back to work as usual

When a person is first diagnosed with cancer and undergoes treatment, their work may suffer; but in the long run, most people who survive cancer work a similar number of hours as anyone else, new study findings show.

"Cancer patients have reason to remain optimistic about the future," study author Dr. Pamela F. Short, of Pennsylvania State University, told Reuters Health. "There are more than 10 million cancer survivors in the United States, and cancer is no longer the death sentence that it once was."

"Furthermore," she added, "our study suggests that the careers of survivors are not usually affected over the long term -- especially if they remain cancer free."

It is known that cancer treatment has a short-term effect on patients' employment and productivity. One study found that 4 out of every 10 patients stop working while they receive treatment, while other researchers reported that people receiving cancer treatment are absent from their jobs more often than are people with other chronic conditions. Short and her colleagues conducted the current study to investigate the long-term employment effects associated with surviving cancer.

Their study involved 504 men and women who were working when they were diagnosed with cancer between 1997 and 1999 and who were between the ages of 55 and 65 in 2002. For comparison, the researchers also examined employment information on nearly 4,000 similarly aged cancer-free workers.

Overall, both male and female cancer survivors who remained cancer free worked only 3 to 5 fewer hours each week, on average, than did those in the comparison group, the investigators report in the journal Health Services Research.

However, those who developed a new cancer during the study period, as did 20 percent of the cancer survivors, worked up to 14 fewer hours per week than they had previously, on average.

Therefore, people with recurrent or second cancers "may particularly benefit from supportive services to help them continue working," the researchers write.

In light of the findings, "employers, who are generally required to accommodate the absences and health problems of employees who undergo cancer treatment, should be reassured that these employees are not more likely to quit working afterwards," the researchers conclude

source : news.yahoo.com