女性乳腺癌確診后經(jīng)常遇到就業(yè)、保險等問題

女性乳腺癌確診后經(jīng)常遇到就業(yè)、保險等問題

A majority of women younger than 45 years faced employment and insurance coverage difficulties following treatment for early stage breast cancer, with 35% fearing loss of health insurance coverage if they left their current job during treatment—despite wanting to continue working.

大多數(shù)45歲以下的婦女在接受早期乳腺癌治療后面臨就業(yè)和保險方面的困難，35%的婦女擔心，如果她們在治療期間離開了目前的工作，盡管想繼續(xù)工作，但仍會失去醫(yī)療保險。

What major issues do survivors of breast cancer face in the aftermath of their treatment, and how pervasive are these issues? According to recent study results published in BMC Cancer, job- and insurance-related concerns make themselves known more often than not in a plurality of women younger than 45 years in the 18 months following their diagnosis.

乳腺癌幸存者在接受治療后面臨哪些主要問題?這些問題有多普遍?根據(jù)最近發(fā)表在《BMC癌癥》雜志上的研究結(jié)果，在確診后的18個月里，與工作和保險相關(guān)的問題讓大多數(shù)45歲以下的女性更容易了解自己。

Using data on 708 female patients collected t, the authors of the present study conducted their own subanalysis on the particular employment and health insurance coverage issues these women may face. Study recruitment took place between January 1998 and November 2005 at 5 major US cancer centers and hospitals:

利用收集的708名女性患者的數(shù)據(jù)，本研究的作者對這些婦女可能面臨的特殊就業(yè)和醫(yī)療保險問題進行了自己的亞分析。研究招募于1998年1月至2005年11月在美國五大癌癥中心和醫(yī)院進行：

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

紀念斯隆凱特琳癌癥中心

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

德克薩斯大學安德森癌癥中心

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

德克薩斯大學西南醫(yī)學中心

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas

達拉斯德州健康長老會醫(yī)院

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center

維克森林大學浸信會醫(yī)學中心

To qualify for study inclusion, their participants had to be between 18 and 45 years of age and received their diagnosis of stage I to III breast cancer in the preceding 8 months; 54% were younger than 40 years. Most were non-Hispanic white (90%) and married/partnered (76%), and they had at least a 4-year college degree (67%). Comparisons for changes in employment were obtained from patient reports taken at study entry and at the 18-month mark, while insurance status was only evaluated after the same 18-month period.

為了符合納入研究的條件，他們的參與者必須在18至45歲之間，并且在過去8個月內(nèi)接受了I至III期乳腺癌的診斷;54%的參與者年齡小于40歲。大多數(shù)是非西班牙裔白人(90%)和已婚/伴侶(76%)，他們至少有4年的大學學歷(67%)。從研究開始時和18個月后的患者報告中獲得就業(yè)變化的比較，而只有在相同的18個月后才評估保險狀況。

At the end of the study period, 56% of the women were still employed full time, while 18% were homemakers, 16% were working only part time, 4.5% had become unemployed or were looking for work, and 2.5% were disabled and could not work. The most common work-related problems the patients actually encountered included fearing a job switch meant they could not get employer-sponsored health insurance coverage because of their preexisting cancer diagnosis (35%), losing their health insurance (0.8%), having to take a demotion (1.0%), being denied a potential promotion (2.5%) or a wage increase (4.3%), being fired/laid off (2.3%), and being forced to accept reduced responsibilities (3.9%).

研究結(jié)束時，56%的婦女仍然全職工作，18%是家庭主婦，16%只是兼職工作，4.5%失業(yè)或找工作，2.5%是殘疾人，不能工作?；颊邔嶋H遇到的最常見的與工作相關(guān)的問題包括：因為他們先前的癌癥診斷，擔心工作調(diào)動意味著他們無法獲得雇主資助的醫(yī)療保險(35%)、失去醫(yī)療保險(0.8%)、不得不降職(1.0%)、被拒絕晉升(2.5%)或工資增加(4.3%)、被解雇/下崗(2.3%)和被迫承擔減少的責任(3.9%)

“These young survivors experienced significant employment and insurance-related issues following their diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer,” the authors concluded. “Insurance- and work-related issues should try to be anticipated and addressed prior to treatment to avoid unnecessary insurance difficulties.”

作者總結(jié)道:“在乳腺癌的診斷和治療之后，這些年輕的幸存者經(jīng)歷了重大的就業(yè)和保險相關(guān)問題。”“保險和工作相關(guān)的問題應該在治療之前就做好準備和處理，避免不必要的保險困難。”

To head off these problems for patients in the future, the study authors strongly suggest maximizing the time before treatment begins by addressing any work- and insurance-related concerns and being upfront on expectation for both.

為了避免這些問題在未來出現(xiàn)在病人身上，研究作者強烈建議，在治療開始前，要盡量延長時間，解決任何與工作和保險相關(guān)的問題，并對兩者都提前做好準備。