Losing a job you love, can literally break your heart.
Now a 10-year study from researchers at Yale concludes an involuntary job loss could have a disastrous impact on your heart.
"We found in the study that those people who are actually laid off, or unexpectedly lose their job in the later part of their career are nearly twice as likely to suffer heart attacks or stroke in the 10 years following," said Yale researcher Elizabeth Bradley.
Bradley says study conclusions were the same for both genders, all races and all educational groups.
And the risk remained the same even after contributing factors such as smoking or obesity were eliminated.
What are the implications of this in today's recessionary economy, where the unemployment rate is predicted to soar past 10% by next year?"
Dr. Jeffrey Borer is the head of cardiovascular medicine at Suny New York.
He says people over 50, especially men, are already entering a high risk age group for heart disease or attack and when confronted with another stress factor,
"If somebody loses his job, I would see the doctor and have a good evaluation and make sure I’m not at particular risk," said Borer.
They say the study effectively provides a heads up on what could be another casualty of the recession, America’s heart health.
