Does unemployment contribute to poorer health-related quality of life among Swedish adults?
Abstract Background Previous studies have shown that unemployment has negative impacts on various aspects of health. However, little is known about the effect of unemployment on health-related quality of life. Our aim was to examine how unemployment impacts upon health-related quality of life among...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2019-04-01
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| Series: | BMC Public Health |
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| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-019-6825-y |
| _version_ | 1818153850009288704 |
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| author | Fredrik Norström Anna-Karin Waenerlund Lars Lindholm Rebecka Nygren Klas-Göran Sahlén Anna Brydsten |
| author_facet | Fredrik Norström Anna-Karin Waenerlund Lars Lindholm Rebecka Nygren Klas-Göran Sahlén Anna Brydsten |
| author_sort | Fredrik Norström |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Previous studies have shown that unemployment has negative impacts on various aspects of health. However, little is known about the effect of unemployment on health-related quality of life. Our aim was to examine how unemployment impacts upon health-related quality of life among Swedish adults, and to investigate these effects on population subgroups defined by education level, marital status, previous health, and gender. Methods As part of a cross-sectional study, a questionnaire was sent to 2500 randomly selected individuals aged 20 to 64 years living in Sweden in 2016. The questionnaire included the EuroQol 5 dimensions (EQ-5D) instrument and was answered by 967 individuals (39%). Quality-adjusted life year (QALY) scores were derived from the EQ-5D responses. Of the respondents, 113 were unemployed and 724 were employed. We used inverse probability-weighted propensity scores in our analyses to estimate a risk difference. Gender, age, education level, marital status, and previous health were used as covariates in our analyses. Results There was a statistically significant lower QALY score by 0.096 points for the unemployed compared to the employed. There were also statistically significant more problems due to unemployment for usual activities (6.6% more), anxiety/depression (23.6% more), and EQ-5D’s Visual Analogue Scale (7.5 point lower score). Grouped analyses indicated a larger negative health effect from becoming unemployed for men, those who are married, and young individuals. Conclusions In our study, we show that the health deterioration from unemployment is likely to be large, as our estimated effect implies an almost 10% worse health (in absolute terms) from being unemployed compared to being employed. This further highlights that unemployment is a public health problem that needs more focus. Our study also raises further demands for determining for whom unemployment has the most negative effects and thus suggesting groups of individuals who are in greatest need for labor market measures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T14:17:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-188bb37413624449b19ef48f1a57d322 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1471-2458 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T14:17:10Z |
| publishDate | 2019-04-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-188bb37413624449b19ef48f1a57d3222022-12-22T01:03:05ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582019-04-0119111210.1186/s12889-019-6825-yDoes unemployment contribute to poorer health-related quality of life among Swedish adults?Fredrik Norström0Anna-Karin Waenerlund1Lars Lindholm2Rebecka Nygren3Klas-Göran Sahlén4Anna Brydsten5Department of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå UniversityDepartment of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå UniversityDepartment of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå UniversityDepartment of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå UniversityDepartment of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå UniversityDepartment of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm UniversityAbstract Background Previous studies have shown that unemployment has negative impacts on various aspects of health. However, little is known about the effect of unemployment on health-related quality of life. Our aim was to examine how unemployment impacts upon health-related quality of life among Swedish adults, and to investigate these effects on population subgroups defined by education level, marital status, previous health, and gender. Methods As part of a cross-sectional study, a questionnaire was sent to 2500 randomly selected individuals aged 20 to 64 years living in Sweden in 2016. The questionnaire included the EuroQol 5 dimensions (EQ-5D) instrument and was answered by 967 individuals (39%). Quality-adjusted life year (QALY) scores were derived from the EQ-5D responses. Of the respondents, 113 were unemployed and 724 were employed. We used inverse probability-weighted propensity scores in our analyses to estimate a risk difference. Gender, age, education level, marital status, and previous health were used as covariates in our analyses. Results There was a statistically significant lower QALY score by 0.096 points for the unemployed compared to the employed. There were also statistically significant more problems due to unemployment for usual activities (6.6% more), anxiety/depression (23.6% more), and EQ-5D’s Visual Analogue Scale (7.5 point lower score). Grouped analyses indicated a larger negative health effect from becoming unemployed for men, those who are married, and young individuals. Conclusions In our study, we show that the health deterioration from unemployment is likely to be large, as our estimated effect implies an almost 10% worse health (in absolute terms) from being unemployed compared to being employed. This further highlights that unemployment is a public health problem that needs more focus. Our study also raises further demands for determining for whom unemployment has the most negative effects and thus suggesting groups of individuals who are in greatest need for labor market measures.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-019-6825-yEuroQol 5 dimensionsLabor marketPropensity scoresQuality-adjusted life years |
| spellingShingle | Fredrik Norström Anna-Karin Waenerlund Lars Lindholm Rebecka Nygren Klas-Göran Sahlén Anna Brydsten Does unemployment contribute to poorer health-related quality of life among Swedish adults? BMC Public Health EuroQol 5 dimensions Labor market Propensity scores Quality-adjusted life years |
| title | Does unemployment contribute to poorer health-related quality of life among Swedish adults? |
| title_full | Does unemployment contribute to poorer health-related quality of life among Swedish adults? |
| title_fullStr | Does unemployment contribute to poorer health-related quality of life among Swedish adults? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Does unemployment contribute to poorer health-related quality of life among Swedish adults? |
| title_short | Does unemployment contribute to poorer health-related quality of life among Swedish adults? |
| title_sort | does unemployment contribute to poorer health related quality of life among swedish adults |
| topic | EuroQol 5 dimensions Labor market Propensity scores Quality-adjusted life years |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-019-6825-y |
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