OBJECTIVES Patients receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy are at risk for chemotherapy-induced neutropenic complications (CINC). The study objective was to examine the impact of CINC, defined as neutropenia with fever or infection, on short-term disability (STD) among cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. METHODS Patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy were extracted from Thomson Reuters MarketScan® Commercial Database and Health and Productivity Management Database. Patients were required to have at least 6 months continuous enrollment before the index date (first chemotherapy claim) and at least 30 days continuous enrollment post-index date, full-time employment and eligibility for STD. Patients with ICD-9 codes for neutropenia and fever or infection and that had evidence of chemotherapy within 30 days prior were defined as having CINC. Propensity score (PS) matching was conducted for “CINC” and “non-CINC” patients based on demographic and clinical characteristics, including chemotherapy class and use of highly myelosuppressive chemotherapeutic agents. Subsequent multivariate regressions were conducted on PS-matched cohorts to estimate the marginal impact of CINC: an Ordinary Least Squares Model on STD days, a generalized linear model on indirect cost associated with STD, and a logistic regression model on whether a patient used any STD days during a month. RESULTS A total of 280 CINC and 280 non-CINC patients were PS-matched. Compared with matched non-CINC patients, CINC patients on average experienced 0.9 more STD day (3.2 vs. 2.3, p=0.046) which led to $156 more in indirect costs ($549 vs. $394, p=0.050) per month. After multivariate adjustment, CINC patients were 35% (p=0.121) more likely to experience at least one STD day, experienced 1.0 more STD day (p=0.029), and incurred $200 more in indirect cost (p=0.016) per month. CONCLUSIONS Patients with CINC experience significantly greater STD days than patients with no neutropenic complications from cancer chemotherapy. Efforts that may prevent CINC can potentially have a beneficial impact on work absenteeism.