title: Wage losses in the year after breast cancer: extent and determinants among Canadian women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Wage losses after breast cancer may result in considerable financial burden. Their assessment is made more urgent because more women now participate in the workforce and because breast cancer is managed using multiple treatment modalities that could lead to long work absences. We evaluated wage losses, their determinants, and the associations between wage losses and changes for the worse in the family's financial situation among Canadian women over the first 12 months after diagnosis of early breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a prospective cohort study among women with breast cancer from eight hospitals throughout the province of Quebec. Information that permitted the calculation of wage losses and information on potential determinants of wage losses were collected by three pretested telephone interviews conducted over the year following the start of treatment. Information on medical characteristics was obtained from medical records. The main outcome was the proportion of annual wages lost because of breast cancer. Multivariable analysis of variance using the general linear model was used to identify personal, medical, and employment characteristics associated with the proportion of wages lost. All statistical tests were two-sided.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 962 eligible breast cancer patients, 800 completed all three interviews. Of these, 459 had a paying job during the month before diagnosis. On average, these working women lost 27% of their projected usual annual wages (median = 19%) after compensation received had been taken into account. Multivariable analysis showed that a higher percentage of lost wages was statistically significantly associated with a lower level of education (P(trend) = .0018), living 50 km or more from the hospital where surgery was performed (P = .070), lower social support (P = .012), having invasive disease (P = .086), receipt of chemotherapy (P < .001), self-employment (P < .001), shorter tenure in the job (P(trend) < .001), and part-time work (P < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Wage losses and their effects on financial situation constitute an important adverse consequence of breast cancer in Canada.
authors.affiliation: Unité de recherche en santé des populations, Centre de recherche du Centre Hospitalier Affilié Universitaire de Québec, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lauzier
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maunsell
authors.forename: Mélanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Drolet
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Coyle
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hébert-Croteau
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brisson
authors.forename: Benoît
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mâsse
authors.forename: Belkacem
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Abdous
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Robidoux
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Robert
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000191:economics* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D002170:Canada; D015331:Cohort Studies; D017281:Cost of Illness; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011792:Quebec; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires