The importance of illness duration, age at diagnosis and the year of diagnosis for labour participation chances of people with chronic illness: results of a nationwide panel-study in the Netherlands

Table 2 Illness characteristics of the sample (N = 4634)

		N	n	%	Mean	Sd
Type of chronic disease (index disease¹)		4634
	Cardiovascular		519	11.2
	Cancer		196	4.2
	Diabetes		576	12.4
	Asthma / COPD		1080	23.3
	Musculoskeletal		712	15.4
	Neurological		441	9.5
	Digestive		238	5.1
	Other		872	18.8
Year of diagnosis		4486
	1935 – 1960		57	1.3
	1960 – 1969		59	1.3
	1970 – 1979		255	5.7
	1980 – 1989		674	15.1
	1990 – 1999		2057	45.9
	2000 – 2009		1384	30.9
Age at time of diagnosis		4486			40.19	14.33
	0 – 12 years		223	5.0
	13 – 18 years		193	4.3
	19 – 25 years		314	7.0
	26 – 35 years		764	17.0
	36 – 45 years		1070	23.9
	46 – 55 years		1340	29.9
	56 – 64 years		582	13.0
Years post-diagnosis		4486			9.68	9.23
	Less than one year		172	3.8
	One to two years		396	8.8
	Two to five years		1074	23.9
	Five to ten years		1216	27.1
	Ten to 15 years		737	16.4
	15 to 25 years		571	12.7
	25 years or longer		320	7.1
Total number of chronic diseases diagnosed		4634			1.36	0.66
	One		3392	73.2
	Two		910	19.6
	Three		254	5.5
	Four or more		78	1.7
Disease(s) severity as assessed by GP (range 3–9)		4571			4.83	1.68

¹The index disease is the chronic disease that had been diagnosed first, in case of more than one chronic disease.

ISSN: 1471-2458