People who beat cancer are more likely to be unemployed than healthy people, according to a new study.

Researchers from Amsterdam said it was especially true for survivors of breast or gastrointestinal cancers.

Author Angela G. E. M. de Boer found that cancer survivors had a 33.8 percent unemployment rate, compared to 15.2 percent for healthy people.

She said that though half of cancer survivors are under 65, they face job discrimination and problems fitting in treatment with a work schedule. She also noted that cancer patients have a higher disability rate than the general population.

"Apart from the effects on employment, there are probably long-term effects of cancer on work ability, work capacity, and wage losses for a large group of survivors," she wrote.

To reach their conclusions, they reviewed 16 studies from the U.S., 15 from Europe and 5 from other countries, including more than 20,000 cancer survivors and 157,000 healthy people.

The report appeared in the Feb. 18 issue of JAMA.