Occupational Medicine 2006 56(2):146; doi:10.1093/occmed/kqj045
© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Mortality and the economic cycle
Conventional wisdom states that mortality falls when economic
conditions improve and rises during economic downturns. However,
recent research has indicated that in fact the opposite happens
and a paper by Granados in the
International Journal of Epidemiology [
1] adds to this growing body of evidence. Through the use of
time-series data on total deaths, Granados demonstrates increasing
mortality during expansions in the US economy between 1900 and
1996. His results demonstrate that the overall decline of mortality
during the 20th century accelerated during recessions but that
this effect was reduced or even reversed during periods of economic
expansion with the exception of suicides. A series of commentary
papers examine this phenomenon and the explanations for it.
These include increased driving and motor vehicle fatalities
and the negative effects of extended working hours leading to
increased physical exertion, job stress and fatigue from reduced
sleep leading to increases in injury rates. High accident rates
in cyclically sensitive industries such as construction and
manufacturing may be exacerbated by hiring inexperienced workers
and speeding up production. Other measurable effects include
those on lifestyle with changes in smoking, drinking, exercise
and dietary habits. The phenomenon appears to be related to
the rate of growth rather than growth itself which in the longer
term is clearly associated with reduced mortality.
 |
References
|
|---|
- Granados JAT. Increasing mortality during the expansions of the US economy, 1900–1966. Int J Epidemiol 2005;34:1194–1202.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
Top
References