Multiple sclerosis (MS) causes physical and cognitive deficits that are known to impact employment.1 Approximately 50% of people with MS (PwMS) will lose their job 5 years after diagnosis.2 This quick vocational deterioration emphasizes a need to study MS specific work problems prior to job loss.
Report descriptive statistics and analyze differences of baseline time points comparing an employed sample of 607 PwMS and 140 healthy controls (HC).
Using the Buffalo Vocational Monitoring Survey, respondents were asked questions about demographics, work status, job-type, work duties, income, hours worked, disclosure, negative work events (NWEs), and work accommodations.
MS and HC groups were matched on age, sex, and education. Of the PwMS, 89.9% had relapsing remitting MS with an average disease duration of 10.1±8.8 years and of this group 58.9% self-reported having physical disability.3 Additionally, 76.1% and 85.4% of PwMS disclosed their MS diagnosis to an employer or co-workers respectively. The five most common job descriptions among both PwMS and HCs were healthcare support/technician, office/administrative support, education/training or library work, sales, and business or financial operations. PwMS worked significantly more years for their employer (10.4±9.6 vs. 7.8±8.8, p=0.003), worked more hours unpaid (3.0±5.9 vs. 1.9 ± 4.2, p=0.014), and experienced significantly more NWEs (0.5±1.0 vs. 0.2±0.5, p<0.001) than HCs. Specifically, verbal criticism (p=0.012), removal of job responsibility (p=0.005), harassment (p=0.013), and “other” (p=0.019), coded as attendance complaints, poor performance reviews, deteriorated employer/co-worker relationships, dissatisfied clients, and unspecified. Groups were equivalent in annual income/hourly wage, hours worked, years working their current position (p>0.05), but trended toward significant difference when comparing missed work days (p=0.108). PwMS used significantly more work accommodations than HCs (2.4±3.5 vs. 1.1±2.5, p<0.001), most frequently flexible work hours (28.9%), air-conditioning (18.4%), and working from home (14.8%).
PwMS and HCs share similar jobs and incomes but the impact from MS is clear. PwMS use more accommodations to maintain job performance, work more hours unpaid, report a higher number of NWEs, and experience more harassment. Further study into factors and interventions that prevent negative work outcomes is warranted.