Unemployment can be fatal for heart patients; elevates death risk by 50 percent!

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New Delhi: Being a heart patient puts you under the radar of many other problems. Even the slightest amount of stress can trigger something big and you have to be careful at all times.

Unemployment is one out of numerous reasons for stress and anxiety, especially in today's times. It is a tough situation to live with and can really take a lot away from you and your life.

As people, professions and jobs become increasingly competitive, many organisations and establishments also prefer to go the same way where employing people is concerned.

Unfortunately, unemployment can take a toll on you with time and can often lead to depression.

However, as per a study, depression is not the only thing unemployment can put you through. If you're a heart patient and unemployed, it can be fatal.

The study showed that, being unemployed increased your risk of death by 50 percent in patients with heart failure than previously known risk factors such as diabetes or stroke.

"The ability to hold a job brings valuable information on well-being and performance status," said lead author Rasmus Roerth from Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark.

On the other hand, being out of work has been associated with increased risk of depression, mental health problems and even suicide.

"In younger patients with heart failure, employment status could be a potential predictor of morbidity and mortality," Roerth added.

The findings were presented at the Heart Failure 2017 and the 4th World Congress on Acute Heart Failure.

For the study, the team included all patients of working age (18 to 60 years) with a first hospitalisation for heart failure in Denmark between 1997 and 2012. Of the 21,455 patients with a first hospitalisation for heart failure, 11,880 (55 per cent) were part of the workforce at baseline.

During an average follow up of 1,005 days, 16 percent of employed and 31 percent of unemployed patients died, while 40 percent of employed and 42 percent of unemployed patients were re-hospitalised for heart failure.

After adjusting for age, sex, education level and comorbidities, heart failure patients unemployed at baseline had a 50 percent increased risk of death and 12 percent increased risk of re-hospitalisation for heart failure compared to those who were employed.

Thus, employment status could help to risk stratify young heart failure patients and identify those needing more intensive rehabilitation, the study showed.

(With IANS inputs)