Study links experience of unemployment with risk of suicide

MEN and women who have ever dealt with unemployment may have a heightened risk of dying early, particularly from suicide and injuries, a Swedish study suggests.

Among more than 20,600 men and women in a long-running study of twins, those who at the outset said they had ever been unemployed were more likely than their consistently working peers to die over the next 10 to 24 years.

In particular, the risk of suicide was elevated among women who had ever been unemployed, while for men, there was an increased risk of death from injuries of “undetermined cause”, at least some of which could have been suicides. The higher death risks could not be fully explained by factors such as poverty, serious illness and drinking and smoking habits at the study’s start, although low income and health problems were more common among the unemployed.

The researchers, led by Dr Margaretha Voss of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, report the findings in the December issue of the American Journal of Public Health. In previous research, Dr Voss had found a higher risk of early death (before age 70) among men and women who had ever faced unemployment.

Though relatively few women committed suicide during the study period, the risk was about three to four times higher among those who had ever been unemployed.

In general, these women had a higher risk of death from injury, poisoning or some other “external” cause, which in some cases could not be judged accidental or intentional.