Health, work, social trust, and financial situation in persons with Usher syndrome type 1.
Mattias Ehn, Moa Wahlqvist, Berth Danermark and 2 others
PMID 29865098WHAT IT FOUND
Among adults with Usher syndrome type 1 who use sign language, not working was linked to worse health, daily activity problems, social trust, and money worries.
Working was linked to more suicide thoughts and feeling offended.
Key findings
01Both non-working groups reported more frequent problems with psychological health, physical health, and daily activities than the working groups, and the difference in daily activity problems was significant within the Usher group.
02Suicide thoughts were much more common in both Usher groups than in reference groups, and were more common in the working Usher group than in the non-working Usher group, while suicide attempts were more common in the non-working Usher group.
03The non-working Usher group reported more difficulty managing daily finances and more problems with general trust than the working Usher group, while the working Usher group reported being offended more often.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study measured associations at one time point, so it cannot show whether work improved health, whether poor health prevented work, or whether other factors caused both. Only 47 of 66 invited working-age people with Usher syndrome type 1 answered, and non-responders had worse vision, so people with more severe visual loss may be underrepresented. The Usher group was small, which gave wide confidence intervals and limited statistical power, especially for subgroup differences. Health, social trust, and financial situation were self-reported through a questionnaire, and the survey was not originally designed for people with visual impairment or sign language users. The supplied text does not fully describe how the reference groups were selected or matched, so the comparison with the general population cannot be checked in detail.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that employment causes better health in Usher syndrome type 1. This is a cross-sectional survey, and the authors state that the results do not reveal causal effects. Also, the working Usher group reported more suicide thoughts than the non-working Usher group, so work was not linked to better psychological health on every measure.