The impact of stroke on employment income: A cohort study using hospital and income tax data in Ontario, Canada.
Patrick Duong, Mary Egan, Matthew Meyer and 2 others
PMID 38689431WHAT IT FOUND
Over 3 years, stroke survivors were less likely to report employment income, and median annual income changed by −$6400.
The loss was largest for lower earners.
Key findings
01Stroke survivors were significantly less likely than matched people without stroke to report any employment income at 1, 2 and 3 years.
02For stroke survivors at the median employment income before stroke, the change in annual employment income attributable to stroke was −$6400, or −29.6%.
03Lower pre-stroke employment income was associated with larger relative income losses, with the largest relative change of −52.2% at the 30th percentile.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study only included people hospitalized for stroke and people who filed income tax returns, so it may miss stroke survivors who were not admitted to hospital and people with no tax income. About 14% of people assessed in the emergency department were not admitted and were not included, which could slightly underestimate poststroke employment and income. The researchers could not adjust for education, type of occupation, years of employment, functional level or social support, so unmeasured factors may influence income. The comparison group was matched only on available characteristics, so stroke survivors and people without stroke may still differ in ways that affect work and income.
Declared interests
Access to the linked hospital and tax data was approved through the Statistics Canada Microdata Access Portal, and the data were accessed at a university-based Research Data Centre. The study was supported by funds to the Canadian Research Data Centre Network from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Institute for Health Research, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and Statistics Canada. The authors state that the opinions expressed do not represent the views of Statistics Canada.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the median change of −$6400 as a guaranteed personal loss or as proof that stroke alone caused it. The study matched people on age, sex, residence, marital status, children, low-income status and pre-stroke income, but it did not have education, occupation, function or social support.