Paid employment in subjects with and without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in five Latin American cities: the PLATINO study

• Autor(a) principal: Montes de Oca, Maria
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Halbert, Ronald J., Talamo, Carlos, Perez-Padilla, Rogelio, Lopez, Maria Varela, Muiño, Adriana, Jardim, Jose Roberto [UNIFESP], Valdivia, Gonzalo, Pertuze, Julio, Moreno, Dolores, Menezes, Ana Maria. Baptista, PLATINO Team
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNIFESP
• Texto Completo: http://dx.doi.org/10.5588/ijtld.10.0508; http://repositorio.unifesp.br/handle/11600/33994
• topic: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; epidemiology; indirect costs; economic burden

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a costly condition that frequently causes permanent work disabilities. Little information exists regarding the impact of COPD on work force participation and the indirect costs of the disease in developing countries.OBJECTIVE: To examine the frequency of paid employment and factors influencing it in a Latin-American population-based study.METHODS: Post-bronchodilator FEV(1)/FVC < 0.70 (forced expiratory volume in 1 s/forced vital capacity) was used to define COPD. Information regarding paid work was assessed by the question 'At any time in the past year, have you worked for payment?'RESULTS: Interviews were conducted with 5571 subjects; 5314 (759 COPD and 4554 non-COPD) subjects underwent spirometry. Among the COPD subjects, 41.8% reported having paid work vs. 57.1% of non-COPD (P < 0.0001). the number of months with paid work was reduced in COPD patients (10.5 +/- 0.17 vs. 10.9 +/- 0.06, P < 0.05). the main factors associated with having paid work in COPD patients were male sex (OR 0.33, 95% CI 0.23-0.47), higher education level (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.01-1.09) and younger age (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.88-0.92). COPD was not a significant contributor to employment (OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.69-1.00, P = 0.054) in the entire population.CONCLUSIONS: Although the proportion of persons with paid work is lower in COPD, having COPD appears not to have a significant impact on obtaining paid employment in the overall population of developing countries.