Demographic,Clinical,and Cognitive Characteristics of Multiple Sclerosis Patients Who Continue to Work

Abstract

To determine the factors that contribute to maintaining employment by MS patients, we compared thirty-eight patients who were still working to sixty-four patients who retired prematurely. The employed group was younger, better educated, had less severe physical disability, a shorter duration of disease, an earlier age at diagnosis, and per formed significantly better on nearly all neuropsychological variables examined. Mul tiple regression analysis indicated that walking ability, age, two measures of memory, and one test of verbal fluency, taken together, accounted for 49% of the variance in employment status. Although most patients who maintained employment had only mild to moderate physical and cognitive impairments, nine patients who continued to work were impaired on three or more of the seven cognitive domains tested. Implications for more effective rehabilitation are considered.