The impact of unemployment on heart disease and stroke mortality in European Union Countries

This paper examines the relation between unemployment and CVD mortality in European Union countries during the first decade of the 21st century. Two separate studies are summarized, focusing on increased heart disease and stroke mortality rates as potential outcomes of the greatly extended unemployment rate during 2000 – 2010 and especially the Great Recession of 2007 – 2009. Unemployment rates and mortality from two cardiovascular illnesses are viewed in pooled cross-sectional analyses over the range of EU countries. In addition to the unemployment rate, other economic variables, expressing the Recession, are studied in relation to cardiovascular mortality over multiple years in a pooled cross-sectional time-series analysis with random effects. The principal finding is that increases in the unemployment rate are related to increased heart disease and stroke mortality. Controlling for other labour market variables, such as labour force participation, as well as gross domestic product (GDP) per capita—the principal indicator of recession and economic growth.