This study is designed to answer the following research questions: (1) What changes in employment, earnings, and health insurance do cancer patients experience shortly after diagnosis and treatment?; (2) What is the effect of cancer survival on trajectories of employment, earnings, and health insurance over the long term?; (3) How do the economic effects of cancer vary by type of cancer, patient characteristics, and pre-diagnosis employment and insurance?; (4) What adjustments in the employment and health insurance of spouses are made to accommodate changes in the health employment, and health insurance of married cancer survivors?; and (5) What are the implications of these economic adjustments for the psycho-social well-being and quality of life of cancer survivors? We will identify a cohort of cancer survivors from four tumor registries in the Mid-Atlantic region, which together draw patients from inner-city, small urban, suburban, and rural areas. We will conduct a computer-assisted telephone interview with the subjects one to three years after diagnosis and re-interview them annually (a total of four times) until about half have survived to five years. The first interview will include retrospective questions about employment, insurance, and health just prior to cancer diagnosis. Each cancer patient's employment and insurance will be compared pre- and post-diagnosis and treatment, identifying factors that differentially protect or expose cancer survivors to economic changes. We also will compare cancer cohort experiences to those of a comparison group without cancer, drawn from either or both of two national panel surveys covering the same time period (the Health and Retirement Survey and the Survey of Income and Program Participation). By emphasizing hazard modeling as our main analytic approach, we will estimate and project both short-term and long-term effects of cancer on survivors' economic well-being.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01CA082619-04
Application #
6522295
Study Section
Health Systems Research (HSR)
Program Officer
Aziz, Noreen M
Project Start
1999-09-30
Project End
2004-07-31
Budget Start
2002-08-01
Budget End
2003-07-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
$426,357
Indirect Cost
Name
Pennsylvania State University
Department
Type
Organized Research Units
DUNS #
City
University Park
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
16802
Moran, John R; Short, Pamela Farley (2014) Does cancer reduce labor market entry? Evidence for prime-age females. Med Care Res Rev 71:224-42
Hollenbeak, Christopher S; Short, Pamela Farley; Moran, John (2011) The implications of cancer survivorship for spousal employment. J Cancer Surviv 5:226-34
Moran, John R; Short, Pamela Farley; Hollenbeak, Christopher S (2011) Long-term employment effects of surviving cancer. J Health Econ 30:505-14
Miller, Paige E; Vasey, Joseph J; Short, Pamela F et al. (2009) Dietary supplement use in adult cancer survivors. Oncol Nurs Forum 36:61-8
Tunceli, Kaan; Short, Pamela Farley; Moran, John R et al. (2009) Cancer survivorship, health insurance, and employment transitions among older workers. Inquiry 46:17-32
Farley Short, Pamela; Vasey, Joseph J; Moran, John R (2008) Long-term effects of cancer survivorship on the employment of older workers. Health Serv Res 43:193-210
Short, Pamela Farley; Vasey, Joseph J; Belue, Rhonda (2008) Work disability associated with cancer survivorship and other chronic conditions. Psychooncology 17:91-7
Short, Pamela Farley; Mallonee, Erin L (2006) Income disparities in the quality of life of cancer survivors. Med Care 44:16-23