Relationship Between Comorbidities and Employment Among Veterans with Spinal Cord Injury

This study looks at the relationship between medical and mental health problems and employment in veterans with spinal cord injuries (SCI). It uses data from a large group of veterans to see if having more health issues makes it harder to get or keep a job. The researchers found that having a mental health diagnosis was linked to a lower chance of being employed. Also, the more medical and mental health problems a veteran had, the less likely they were to be employed. The study suggests that managing medical and mental health problems is very important for helping veterans with SCI find and keep jobs. It also suggests that bringing together job services and medical care could improve both health and job outcomes for these veterans.

• 1
  Lack of any documented mental health diagnosis correlated strongly with being employed at the time of enrollment.
• 2
  No single comorbidity was associated with employment at enrollment, but an increased number of medical and/or mental health comorbidities (“health burden”) were associated with a decreased likelihood of employment at the time of enrollment.
• 3
  For mental health, after adjustment for covariates, the number of mental health comorbidities was a significant predictor of EMP-enroll/Yes, which correlated most strongly with a lack of any known mental health diagnosis