Losing Your Job May Be Detrimental To Your Health

May 8, 2009 6:42 a.m. EST

Boston, MA (AHN) - Losing your job may not be just bad for your morale. It might also make you sick, according to a new study.

The study, by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, concluded that when people lose their jobs, even if they find a new one right away, they are at an increased risk of developing health problems like high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attack, stroke and diabetes.

Lead author Kate Strully, of the foundation's Health and Society department, said that people who lost their jobs through no fault of their own were at a 54-percent increased risk of reporting poor health. Among those recently laid-off with no re-existing health conditions, reports of poor health increased by 83 percent.

David R. Williams, a sociology professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, said the study's results are important as the nation continues to face recession and rising unemployment.

"As we consider ways to improve health in America during a time of economic recession and rising unemployment, it is critical that we look beyond health care reform to understand the tremendous impact that factors like job loss have on our heath," Williams said in a statement.

The study is published in the May 8 issue of the journal Demography.