Dataset Information

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 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.

SUBMITTER: Norstrom F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6489216 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Does unemployment contribute to poorer health-related quality of life among Swedish adults?

Norström Fredrik F Waenerlund Anna-Karin AK Lindholm Lars L Nygren Rebecka R Sahlén Klas-Göran KG Brydsten Anna A

BMC public health 20190429 1

<h4>Background</h4>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.<h4>Methods</h4>As part of a cross-sectional study, a qu ...[more]

PMID: 31035994

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Project description:Individuals with disabilities are regarded as a highly vulnerable population group, particularly as far as oral health is concern. However, few studies have assessed the impact of the oral condition on the quality of life of these individuals. Therefore, the aim of this study is to expand knowledge on the oral health status of the Portuguese adults with mild intellectual disability, and to assess how the patient's oral health is related to their quality of life. A sample of 240 adults with mild intellectual disabilities linked to the Portuguese Federation for Intellectual Disability, were interviewed using a previously validated version of the Oral Health Impact Profile. An oral health examination was also conducted using three oral health indexes: Clinical Oral Health Index (COHI); Clinical Oral Care Needs Index (COCNI) and the Clinical Oral Prevention Index (COPI). Sociodemographic characteristics and dental health factors were also collected, following statistical analysis. More than half of the individuals (54,9%) presented one or more problems of major to severe impact on health (COHI level 2); only 4,6% of the individuals do not need treatment or examination (COCNI level 0) and 85% of the study sample needs measures of educational or preventive action (COPI level 1). In 76,9% of the participants, oral health had impact on the quality of life. The most affected dimensions of life were physical pain with 61,9%, followed by psychological discomfort and psychological disability with 45,1% and 45%, respectively. With relation to oral health factors and sociodemographic variables it was verified that fewer teeth and higher self-perception of need for dental treatment had a negative impact on the quality of life. On the other hand, institutionalization and an increase in at least one category in the self-perception of the oral health status had a positive impact on the quality of life. Given the high burden of oral disease and the considerable impact on quality of life found in this study, the establishment of guidelines to improve the oral health and quality of life of these individuals should be regarded as imperative.

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Dataset Information

Does unemployment contribute to poorer health-related quality of life among Swedish adults?

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Does unemployment contribute to poorer health-related quality of life among Swedish adults?

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