Employment status of Finnish cancer patients in 1997.

We explored the impact of cancer diagnosis on the employment status of 46 312 working-aged people with cancer, alive on 31 December 1997 in Finland, and an equal number of age- and gender-matched referents. In general, 50% of the cancer patients were employed, in comparison to 55% of their referents. People with cancer were slightly less often employed, mainly because of their higher retirement rate: 34% of the cancer patients and 27% of the referents had retired. People with lung cancer as well as those with cancer of the nervous system were less likely to be employed. Our results suggest that cancer diagnosis does not usually lead to unemployment or early retirement, even though the employment rate of the people with cancer varied greatly according to the cancer site. Early retirement is common among people with highly disabling cancer or poor prognosis, but in general, the employment of cancer survivors seems optimistic.