Unemployment linked to increased risk of death

Washington: Keep working for a healthy body and longer life as a study finds that unemployment is linked to a 50 percent higher risk of death in patients with heart failure than history of diabetes or stroke.

The research was presented at Heart Failure 2017 and the 4th World Congress on Acute Heart Failure. The findings from more than 20,000 heart failure patients found that being unemployed at baseline had a 50 percent increased risk of death and 12 percent increased risk of re-hospitalisation for heart failure compared to those, who were employed.

"The ability to hold a job brings valuable information on wellbeing and performance status," said lead study author Dr Rasmus Roerth from Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark.

"And workforce exclusion has been associated with increased risk of depression, mental health problems and even suicide," Roerth added.

The team study compared the risks of all-cause death and recurrent heart failure hospitalisation in patients with heart failure aged 18 to 60 years in between 1997 and 2012.

Of the 21,455 patients with a first hospitalisation for heart failure, 11,880, about 55 percent were part of the workforce at baseline.

During an average follow-up of 1005 days, 16 percent of employed and 31 percent of unemployed patients died, while 40 percent of employed and 42 percent of unemployed patients were re-hospitalised for heart failure. Not being part of the workforce was associated with a higher likelihood of death than history of diabetes or stroke.

"Those without a job also had an increased risk of recurrent heart failure hospitalization," Dr Roerth stated. Dr Roerth concluded it was perhaps not surprising that employment status has importance for prognosis.