ARTICLES Work Situation After Breast Cancer: Results From a Population-Based Study

Background: Breast cancer may adversely affect work expe-rience. We assessed whether there was evidence of discrim-ination at work, defined as negative or involuntary changes in employment situation (including changes in position, wages, and other conditions), associated with a breast cancer diagnosis in a population-based retrospective cohort study conducted in Quebec, Canada. Methods: The study was based on the consecutive series of women aged less then 60 years when first treated for breast cancer (identified through the Quebec Tumor Registry) and a random sample of frequency-matched women living in Quebec (identified from provincial health care files) who had never been diagnosed with cancer. Eligibility for the study was restricted to women who were employed at the time of diagnosis (for breast cancer survivors) or the same calendar period (for women i