Employment status in peritoneal-dialysis patients

Background/PurposeThe employment status of peritoneal-dialysis patients could have been related to selection bias. This study examined the employment rate and associated factors in a population with peritoneal-dialysis-first policy.MethodsWe performed a single-center cross-sectional survey on the employment status of prevalent peritoneal-dialysis patients between January and September 2013 in Hong Kong.ResultsThe survey included 383 prevalent peritoneal-dialysis patients, with 128 of them in the labor force. Among the patients in the labor force, the employment rates were 65.8% and 18.9% for automated peritoneal-dialysis patients and continuous-ambulatory-peritoneal-dialysis patients, respectively, whereas 39.1% of patients in the labor force had expressed that they were able to work, but were unemployed. In adjusted analysis, the use of automated peritoneal dialysis (adjusted odds ratio of 7.93; 95% confidence interval 2.92–21.74) was independently associated with employment, whereas older age was associated with lower likelihood of employment (adjusted odds ratio of 0.53 for each 10 years old; 95% confidence interval 0.38–0.72).ConclusionThe employment rate in peritoneal-dialysis patients is very low when compared to that in the general population. Patients on automated peritoneal dialysis were more likely to be employed.背景腹膜透析患者就業狀況的研究，有可能會受到選擇性偏倚的影響。這項調查 是在一個採納了 é腹膜透析第一û 政策的地區，進行就業率及其相關因素的研究。方法在2013年1月至9月期間，我們在香港一個腹膜透析中心對現存的腹膜透析患者的就業狀況進行了一次橫斷面調查。結果本次調查包括383名現存的腹膜透析患者，其中有128人被納入勞動力人口。在勞動力人口的患者中，自動腹膜透析的使用者就業率為65.8 %，連續性家居腹膜透析的使用者就業率為18.9 % 。另一方面，39.1%的勞動力人口患者，表示他們有能力工作，但並未受僱用。在調整後的分析，使用自動腹膜透析與就業率有獨立關聯，另外，較年長的患者與較低就業率有關聯。結論相比一般香港人，腹膜透析患者的就業率非常低。自動腹膜透析的患用者較易就業。