Personal health : hard times can kill you

The stress of hard economic times takes a toll on health. The 1990-92 recession led to thousands of additional deaths a year from heart disease and hundreds of homicides, a report by two

economists suggests. They estimate that the two-point increase in the unemployment rate, from 5.5% to 7.5% over the last two years, was responsible for the following casualties: * 35,307

additional deaths from heart disease. * 2,771 deaths from stroke. * 1,459 homicides. * 62,607 violent crimes, including burglary and aggravated assault. * 223,550 property crimes, including

robbery, larceny and auto theft. The study, “Effects of Diminished Economic Opportunities on Social Stress: Heart Attacks, Strokes and Crime,” looked at statistical data from 30 major

metropolitan areas of the United States. A 1% rise in the jobless rate, the study found, boosts deaths from heart disease by 5.6%, deaths from stroke by 3.1%, homicides by 6.7%, violent

crimes by 3.4% and crimes against property by 2.4%. The study was conducted by Mary Merva and Richard Fowles, economists at the University of Utah, and published by the Economic Policy

Institute, a nonprofit Washington think tank. MORE TO READ