CARDIOVASCULAR-DISEASE AS A CONSEQUENCE O F UNEMPLOYMENT - AN ANALYSIS FROM THE CLINICAL PUBLIC-HEALTH POINT-OF-VIEW

Unemployment has become a sociopolitical problem of great importance i n the Western industrialised countries. Although negative effects on s ocial life and psyche resulting from unemployment are regarded as scie ntifically accepted today, a possible causal relationship between jab loss and somatic illnesses is still a matter of controversy. A possibl e target organ is the cardiovascular system. The aim of this study was , therefore, to check by means of extensive literature analysis to wha t extent unemployment can be seen to influence cardiovascular morbidit y. Particular attention was paid to the method used and the clinical r elevance of the results. Person related epidemiological studies publis hed since 1980 which investigated changes in cardiovascular risk facto rs associated with unemployment or prevalence rates of manifest diseas e influenced by unemployment, were included in the final evaluation, I n some cases statistically significant associations were found between unemployment and the increase in cholesterol levels or systolic/diast olic blood pressure, but the clinical relevance of such slight changes is questionable. To consider unemployment as an independent, social, cardiovascular risk factor is at present unwarranted. An increase in t he prevalence rates of coronary heart disease or arterial hypertonia c ausally linked in some studies with unemployment is scientifically que stionable due to severe methodological shortcomings. On the basis of S he currently available methodologically acceptable studies, the questi on of a qualitative contribution of unemployment to cardiovascular dis ease cannot be answered conclusively.