Work status of SLE patients and controls in the Carolina Lupus Study, 2001 followup. Values are number (%).
| Patients, n = 198 | Controls, n = 299 | p | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working 10+ h week at baseline* | 141 (71) | 226 (76) | 0.28 |
| Work status at followup (yr preceding interview)† | |||
| Not working | 98 (50) | 72 (24) | <0.0001 |
| Working | 100 (50) | 227 (76) | |
| Same job | 49 (25) | 98 (33) | |
| Different job | 41 (21) | 101 (34) | |
| Newly employed | 10 (5) | 27 (9) | 0.01 |
| Stopped working‡ | 51 (26) | 26 (9) | |
| Reason(s) stopped working | |||
| Did not like job, supervisor | 0 (0) | 2 (9) | |
| No longer needed to work | 1 (2) | 6 (27) | |
| Job ended, laid off | 4 (8) | 6 (27) | |
| Retired (other than health) | 2 (4) | 3 (14) | |
| Health | 47 (92) | 9 (40) | < 0.0001 |
| Hours per week, 24 or less** | 12 (12) | 20 (11) | 0.74 |
| Months per year, < 9** | 12 (12) | 19 (10) | 0.63 |
| Days lost last year because of health, 15 or more¶ | 21 (21) | 24 (11) | 0.01 |
| Unable to work more than 2 months since diagnosis# | 25 (28) | 14 (9) | < 0.001 |
↵* During the year before diagnosis or corresponding reference year, patients and controls, respectively.
↵† “Newly employed”, i.e., worked in year preceding followup interview who were not working in year before diagnosis/reference year (n = 57 patients, 73 controls). One control is missing data (“don’t know”) for the work status variable.
↵‡ Worked before diagnosis/reference year (patients and controls, respectively), but did not work in year preceding followup interview; 4 controls were missing data for these variables.
↵** Among participants who worked in year preceding interview (n = 100 patients, 187 controls; 40 other controls are in this group but are missing data for this question because they completed a version of the interview that did not have these questions).
↵¶ Among participants who worked in year preceding interview (n = 100 patients, 224 controls; 3 other controls missing data for this question).
↵# Among participants who worked at baseline and in year preceding interview (n = 90 patients, 163 controls; 37 other controls are in this group but are missing data for this question because they completed a version of the interview that did not have this question).