Affiliations: University of New Mexico Occupational Therapy Graduate
Program, Department of Pediatrics, Albuquerque, NM, USA | Albuquerque Public Schools, NM, USA | Integrated Health Services, Inc., USA | Rheumatology/Internal Medicine and Neurology,
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA | Hoglund Brain Imaging Center and Neurology and
Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Kansas Medical Center,
Kansas City, KS, USA
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Janet L. Poole, Ph.D., OTR/L.
Associate Professor, University of New Mexico Occupational Therapy Graduate
Program, Department of Pediatrics, MSC09 5240, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001, USA.
Tel.: +1 505 272 1753; Fax: +1 505 272 8079; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: This study compared personal and health factors and job
characteristics in persons with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and a
healthy control group and examined factors related to job characertistics.
Fifteen women with SLE and 15 healthy controls completed a questionnaire
regarding current employment, employer restrictions, job environment, type of
work, and health factors interfering with work. Personal factors such as
demographic information, disease severity, cognition, and degree of brain
injury were also assessed. t-tests showed that persons with SLE worked
significantly less than healthy controls but there were no significant
differences between the groups for types of job or employee restrictions. In
the group with SLE, health factors of mobility, dependence, musculoskeletal
problems, neurological problems, and fatigue correlated with perceived social
(r=0.53 to 0.67) and physical (r=0.56
to 0.87) work environments. None of the measures of cognition, brain injury or
disease severity correlated with job characteristics. In the healthy controls,
dependence at work correlated with physical environment and fatigue correlated
with the social environment of the workplace. The results indicate that even
persons with SLE who have mild disease are significantly different from healthy
controls and might be at risk for discontinuing working.
Keywords: Work disability, cognition, systemic lupus erythmatosus
