Could Unemployment Increase The Risk Of Prostate Cancer?

New research suggests that unemployment is linked to prostate cancer deaths, according to new findings published in ecancermedicalscience.

Researchers at the Jonathan Watkins of King's College London, London, UK, found that unemployment was associated with significant increases in prostate cancer mortality.

For their research, the first study explored changes associated with unemployment, particularly those seen during the Great Recession of the late 2000s. Researchers found that excess deaths were linked to treatable diseases, including prostate cancer.

Furthermore, they discovered that the effect continued for at least five years with a 1 percent rise in unemployment. However, the effect was simply due to the fact that the unemployed patients might belong to social groups that were more likely to experience prostate cancer mortality.

However, the effect was not just due to social groups that are more likely to experience prostate cancer. Hence, the trend continued even after researchers controlled the effect of competing forces such as economic factors, infrastructure, hospital resources, and health care spending.

Still researchers are looking into the exact causes of correlation, including factors that could potentially be influenced by macroeconomics, such as societal challenges, nutrition and even possible psychological outcomes. 

"There are two broad implications emerging from this study," Watkins explains. "First, policies that support employment may have positive knock-on effects on mortality rates from a treatable disease such as prostate cancer.

"Second, healthcare professionals should be aware of the additional risks entailed by unemployment, and facilitate access of care to this population."