B139
A comparison of employment status in survivors of childhood cancer in Britain with employment status in the general population: the British Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (BCCSS)
Emma Lancashire1, David Winter1, Clare Frobisher1, Raoul Reulen1, Adam Glaser2, Mike Hawkins1
1University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK, 2Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, UK
Aim
To compare employment status as reported by 10500 survivors of childhood cancer who completed the BCCSS questionnaire to that of the general population using data from the nationwide General Household Survey (2002), the year when most of the BCCSS questionnaires were completed.
Method
The BCCSS is a population-based, long-term follow-up study of individuals diagnosed with childhood cancer in Britain between 1940 and 1991 (www.bccss.bham.ac.uk). Employment status was measured using the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification. Initially the proportion of students was considered. Having excluded students the proportion in employment was then considered. Subsequent analyses included only employed individuals and looked at both the proportion in managerial/professional occupations and those in at least an intermediate occupation. Logistic regression was used adjusting for age, sex and educational attainment. Presented results are all significant at the 5% level.
Results
CNS neoplasm survivors are the only group for whom a deficit in employment levels (compared to general population) was observed whilst Wilm’s tumour and bone sarcoma survivors revealed an increased likelihood of employment. Among employed survivors CNS neoplasm and leukaemia survivors are less likely than the general population to have managerial/professional occupations; CNS neoplasm survivors also being more likely to have occupations classified as routine/manual. An increased likelihood of being in an intermediate occupation or above was observed for survivors of bone sarcoma, retinoblastoma, Wilm’s tumour, neuroblastoma and the ‘other neoplasm’ group. Survivors of neuroblastoma, retinoblastoma, Wilm’s tumour and CNS neoplasms were more likely to be a student than the general population.
