Recession associated with heart attacks, murders and suicides

The study shows that a steady increase in unemployment can be associated with a rise in the number of heart attack cases, suicides and murders. However, there has been a decrease in the incidents of road casualties.

Unemployment is related to number of heart attack cases
The study has revealed that with the unemployment rate having gone up by three percent, there has been a 2.7 percent increase in the instances of heart attacks among men between the age group of 30 to 44 years.

Also, there has been a rise in the homicides or murders by 2.4 percent. An equal amount of rise has been seen in the number of suicide cases among people under the age of 64.

Study details
For the study purposes, researchers took into account more than 50 reasons for deaths in 26 European Union nations, between the time period of 1970 to 2007. This data was collected from the World Health Organisation.

These results were then weighed against the results of the unemployment data gathered from the International Labour Organisation.

Researchers also took help from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and analysed various levels of government social spending during these years.

There were other variables too that could have influenced the increasing death rates and they were also taken into consideration by the researchers. These included population ageing and the various methods by which countries gauge employment rates and the reasons for deaths.

It was found that if government makes some effort and spends more than $190 per individual every year in active labour market programmes, then a three percent increase in unemployment would not alter the suicide rates.

The new study has been published in the Lancet medical journal.