Impact of Diabetes on Employment and Income in Manitoba, Canada
- Allen Kraut, MD, FRCPC,
- Randy Walld, BSC,
- Robert Tate, PHD and
- Cam Mustard, SCD
- From the Departments of Internal Medicine (A.K.) and Community Health Sciences (A.K., R.W., R.T., C.M.) and the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and Evaluation (R.W.), University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba; the Population Health Program (C.M.), the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Ontario; Workplace/Workforce Theme (R.T., C.M.), HEALNet Network Centre for Excellence, Hamilton, Ontario; the Institute for Work and Health (C.M.); and the Department of Public Health Sciences (C.M.), Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
- Address correspondence and reprint requests to Allen Kraut, MD, FRCPC, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, S112-750 Bannatyne Ave., Winnipeg, MB R3E 0W3, Canada. E-mail: akraut{at}ms.umanitoba.ca .
Abstract
OBJECTIVE— To compare employment and income of working-age (18-64 years) people with and without diabetes.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS— We conducted a prospective population-based cohort study based in Manitoba, Canada, consisting of 25,554 individuals without diabetes and 608 with diabetes, of whom 242 had a complication of the disease. Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of employment and income variables were determined.
RESULTS— Diabetic individuals with complications were twice as likely not to be in the labor force (OR 2.07 [95% CI 1.49-2.87]) than nondiabetic individuals. This difference was not evident for diabetic individuals without complications (OR 1.20 [0.93-1.56]). Diabetic individuals without complications had incomes similar to those of nondiabetic individuals. The total income of diabetic individuals with complications was 72% of the income of nondiabetic individuals. When the analysis was limited to only those in the labor force, diabetic workers with complications still had only 85% the employment income of nondiabetic people. Diabetic individuals with complications received 58% more social support income. In a separate analysis of aboriginal individuals, complicated diabetes was not associated with an increased likelihood of not working or a decrease in employment income.
CONCLUSIONS— In general, complications of diabetes and the absence of the disease affect the ability to earn income in Manitoba, Canada. This effect was not identified in the aboriginal population of the province.
Footnotes
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Abbreviations: ICD-9-CM, International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification; OR, odds ratio.
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A table elsewhere in this issue shows conventional and Système International (SI) units and conversion factors for many substances.
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- Accepted September 19, 2000.
- Received May 18, 2000.
- by the American Diabetes Association, Inc.
