Reinsertion into the Labor Market for Liver Transplant Recipients: Evidence from a Transplant Unit

Abstract

Introduction:  The world's pioneering liver transplant occurred on March 1, 1963. In Brazil, the initiative for this procedure took place in 1968 at the Hospital das Clínicas, Universidade de São Paulo. Liver transplantation should only be indicated when conventional therapeutic methods have been exhausted, with the probability of survival and quality of life being greater with the procedure. Objectives:  To statistically and econometrically analyze the reintegration into the labor market of post-liver transplant patients followed in a liver transplant unit in the state of Pernambuco who underwent the procedure from 2012 to 2021. Methods:  A descriptive, cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach was carried out at the Unidade de Transplante de Fígado (UTF), Hospital Universitário Oswaldo Cruz (HUOC). The following inclusion criteria were used: age over 18 years, patients who were in the labor market before liver transplantation, and workers in the same sector who did not undergo the procedure. To analyze the collected data, the difference-in-differences statistical technique, event study, was used, since the treatment of the treated group occurred on different occasions within the researched period. During this period, individuals who had not yet received surgical treatment acted as a control group for those who had already undergone liver transplantation. Results:  Liver transplantation reduced the chances of employability of patients followed up at the UTF/HUOC by 20%, despite the increased survival of these patients after the procedure. Conclusion:  The study concluded that the high unemployment rate among the transplanted population indicates that these individuals are more predisposed to informal employment, causing a greater tendency to infectious diseases and a lower level of education due to less opportunity for professional improvement.