TY - JOUR

T1 - Employment and disability pension after central nervous system infections in adults

AU - Roed, Casper

AU - Sørensen, Henrik Toft

AU - Rothman, Kenneth J

AU - Skinhøj, Peter

AU - Obel, Niels

N1 - © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

PY - 2015/5/15

Y1 - 2015/5/15

N2 - In this nationwide population-based cohort study using national Danish registries, in the period 1980-2008, our aim was to study employment and receipt of disability pension after central nervous system infections. All patients diagnosed between 20 and 55 years of age with meningococcal (n = 451), pneumococcal (n = 553), or viral (n = 1,433) meningitis or with herpes simplex encephalitis (n = 115), who were alive 1 year after diagnosis, were identified. Comparison cohorts were drawn from the general population, and their members were individually matched on age and sex to patients. Five years after diagnosis, the differences in probability of being employed as a former patient with pneumococcal meningitis or herpes simplex encephalitis versus being a member of the comparison cohorts were -19.9% (95% confidence interval (CI): -24.7, -15.1) and -21.1% (95% CI: -33.0, -9.3), respectively, and the corresponding differences in probability of receiving disability pension were 20.2% (95% CI: 13.7, 26.7) and 16.2% (95% CI: 6.2, 26.3). The differences in probability of being employed or receiving disability pension in former meningococcal or viral meningitis patients versus members of the comparison cohorts were small. In conclusion, pneumococcal meningitis and herpes simplex encephalitis were associated with substantially decreased employment and increased need for disability pension. These associations did not seem to apply to meningococcal meningitis or viral meningitis.

AB - In this nationwide population-based cohort study using national Danish registries, in the period 1980-2008, our aim was to study employment and receipt of disability pension after central nervous system infections. All patients diagnosed between 20 and 55 years of age with meningococcal (n = 451), pneumococcal (n = 553), or viral (n = 1,433) meningitis or with herpes simplex encephalitis (n = 115), who were alive 1 year after diagnosis, were identified. Comparison cohorts were drawn from the general population, and their members were individually matched on age and sex to patients. Five years after diagnosis, the differences in probability of being employed as a former patient with pneumococcal meningitis or herpes simplex encephalitis versus being a member of the comparison cohorts were -19.9% (95% confidence interval (CI): -24.7, -15.1) and -21.1% (95% CI: -33.0, -9.3), respectively, and the corresponding differences in probability of receiving disability pension were 20.2% (95% CI: 13.7, 26.7) and 16.2% (95% CI: 6.2, 26.3). The differences in probability of being employed or receiving disability pension in former meningococcal or viral meningitis patients versus members of the comparison cohorts were small. In conclusion, pneumococcal meningitis and herpes simplex encephalitis were associated with substantially decreased employment and increased need for disability pension. These associations did not seem to apply to meningococcal meningitis or viral meningitis.

KW - Adult

KW - Cohort Studies

KW - Denmark

KW - Disabled Persons

KW - Employment

KW - Encephalitis, Herpes Simplex

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Insurance, Disability

KW - Male

KW - Meningitis

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Pensions

KW - Registries

U2 - 10.1093/aje/kwu359

DO - 10.1093/aje/kwu359

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 25852076

VL - 181

SP - 789

EP - 798

JO - American Journal of Epidemiology

JF - American Journal of Epidemiology

SN - 0002-9262

IS - 10

ER -