Hours at work and employment status among HIV-infected patients

To study differences in employment and work hours among three groups of HIV-infected and non-infected individuals.

Data on 1263 patients seen in five different sites in California were drawn from the AIDS Time-Oriented Health Outcome Study. Three groups of patients were examined: AIDS patients, HIV-positives without diagnosed AIDS, and HIV-negatives. The HIV-negative patients were used as a comparison group in comparing hours worked by all patients, whether they worked or not; the probability of working, regardless of the number of hours; and work hours only for those patients who worked.

Adjustment for covariates in a 2-equation econometric model reduced the difference in employment rates between the AIDS patients and the other two groups, suggesting that characteristics other than AIDS status account, in part, for their low employment rates. After adjustment, we did not find any statistically significant differences in employment probabilities or work hours between the HIV-positive patients without diagnosed AIDS and the comparison group. However, AIDS patients reported approximately 14 work hours fewer (P < 0.0001) and lower probabilities of employment (P < 0.0001) than the HIV-negative comparison group among all patients with and without jobs. Moreover, among those with jobs, patients with AIDS reported approximately 3 work hours fewer per week (P = 0.0385). No statistically significant differences in work hours were found between HIV-positives without diagnosed AIDS and comparison patients.

AIDS patients were less likely to be employed than either of the other groups, but crude, unadjusted unemployment rates exaggerate the effect of AIDS. For those employed, AIDS patients work only 3 h less per week than either of the other groups.