Increase in employment among patients with rheumatic diseases

The employment participation of people with inflammatory rheumatic diseases has increased since 2010. However, the employment rate is still below the population average. Carlo Veltri from the Health Services Research Group at the German Rheumatology Research Center (DRFZ) recently published these findings in the international journal RMD Open.

In his research, which analyzed data from 16. 421 patients from the nationwide core documentation, Carlo Veltri was able to show that the employment rate for all diagnoses increased significantly between 2010 and 2022: for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from 54 to 68 percent, for axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) from 65 to 73 percent, for psoriatic arthritis (PsA) from 58 to 72 percent, for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) from 48 to 60 percent, for systemic sclerosis (SSc) from 47 to 66 percent and for ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) from 43 to 61 percent. The annual incapacity to work due to illness was reduced by one to eleven days.

“By calculating standardized employment rates, we were able to take into account differences in age, gender, federal state and education among patients with rheumatic diseases and in the population,” says Dr. Johanna Callhoff, head of the working group.

Carlo Veltri is currently investigating the influence of biologic therapies on the increase in employment and whether they can reduce the costs of absence from work in the long term.