Unemployment ages men

Scientists at Imperial College London and the University of Oulu (Finland) analyzed the DNA of 5,620 men and women born in Finland in 1966. Their goal was to measure the length of telomeres – the protective end sections of chromosomes that shorten with each cell division and are considered a biological marker of aging. There is evidence that short telomeres are associated with an increased risk of developing age-related diseases, including type 2 diabetes and diseases of the cardiovascular system.

At the time of DNA isolation, conducted in 1997, the age of all study participants was 31 years. Analysis of the data obtained showed that men who had not had a job for more than two years out of the three years preceding the survey had short telomeres 2 times more often than men who had permanent employment.

The analysis took into account various social, biological and behavioral factors that could potentially affect the result. This made it possible to exclude the possibility of a relationship between the short length of telomeres and health problems that prevent employment.

An interesting fact is that the revealed trend did not apply to women. Perhaps this is due to the fact that there were fewer women among the study participants who were unemployed for long periods than unemployed men. The authors note that further research is needed to obtain unambiguous answers, including to the question of the impact of unemployment on older people.

Article by Leena Ala-Mursula et al. Long-term unemployment is associated with short telomeres in 31-year-old men: an observational study in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of Imperial College London:
Long-term unemployment may accelerate ageing in men.

21.11.2013