Employment status monitoring in an Argentinian population of patients with multiple sclerosis: Particularities of a developing country

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological chronic disease that causes a number of physical, cognitive and emotional symptoms. The identification of these factors will allow mitigating unemployment and improve quality of life of patients. The Buffalo Vocational Monitoring Survey (BVMS) is a tool to characterize Work-Challenged patients. OBJECTIVE: To describe and analyze BVMS data in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) from Argentina. To study the association with physical, cognitive and psychiatric morbidity in employed patients, comparing the performance of MS Work-Challenged and MS Work-Stable patients, with and without accommodations. METHODS: 119 MS patients were administered the Argentina adaptation of the BVMS, and completed measures of physical disability, fatigue, depression, cognitive processing speed, memory and verbal fluency. RESULTS: 57.14%of the patients were employed and 19.32%were unemployed, the remaining having roles of housewife, students and disability retirees. Within the employed subgroup, 60.26 %were working as employees and 39.74 %were self-employed. Cognitive and clinical variables differentiate patients with and without negative events and accommodations (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This Spanish version BVMS is considered a new tool to monitor employment difficulties in Spanish-speaking MS patients. MS Work-Challenged had a higher depression, fatigue and worse performance in cognitive variables.

Brazilian registry of patients with porphyria: REBRAPPO study

“…The unemployment rate among Brazilian patients with AHP are high corresponding to 20.3% of national cohort and similar to observed in other rare disorders like Multiple Sclerosis with an unemployment rate of 40% in Poland and 19.32% in Argentina [17,18], Fabry's disease with a rate of 39.5% [19] and higher when compared with other disorders such as Glycogen Storage Disease type I with 9% [20], Myasthenia Gravis with 13% [21], Vasculitis with 4% [22] and lower when compared to Myotonic Dystrophy type 1 a neuromuscular disorders with systemic complications in which only one third of adult patients are employed [23].…”

Determinants of early working impairments in multiple sclerosis

“…In previous studies, there was poor awareness on the tools to assist people with MS in retaining employment (27), while this does not seem the case in our population. Over the disease course, there is a progressive reduction of occupational activities, with up to 50% patients with MS being unemployed within 10 years from disease onset (8,9,(27)(28)(29). As such, the employability of workers with MS should be preserved by adaptation and prevention of working conditions (e.g., ergonomic and technical aspects of the workplace) based on the individual clinical manifestations of the disease (11).…”

Contextual Factors Matter: The Role of Social Support in Work-Related Difficulties and Employment Status in Persons with Multiple Sclerosis

“…PwMS were assessed using the Buffalo Vocational Monitoring Survey (BVMS) [25], adapted in Argentina [26]. This survey asks respondents a variety of questions about demographics, disease status, job type, work duties, income, hours worked per week, disclosure of disease status, NWEs, and workplace accommodations.…”