title: Is hypertension in adult age related to unemployment at a young age? Results from the Northern Swedish Cohort.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between early unemployment (ages 16-21 years) and adult hypertension after controlling for earlier hypertension, unemployment in adult life, risk factors for hypertension and confounders.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cohort of 927 (86.6% of the original cohort) 9th grade school-leavers was followed from 1981 until 2008. Data were collected through questionnaires, health examinations, and national registers. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used as primary statistical methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At ages 21 and 43, hypertension was significantly more prevalent among men than women (p < .001). Unemployment between the ages of 16 and 21 was related to hypertension at age 43 among women but not men. The odds ratio (OR) was persistently high (OR 3.16 [95% confidence interval 1.45-6.89]) after controlling for late unemployment, hypertension at age 16, risk factors for hypertension and confounders. There was no significant relationship between exposure to early unemployment and hypertension at age 21 for women or men.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  From a public health perspective, youth unemployment is a societal problem in need of more attention and intervention in order to prevent long-term adverse health outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Division of Social Medicine karina.nygren@umu.se.
authors.forename: Karina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nygren
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Division of Family Medicine; Umeå University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Weidan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Division of Social Medicine.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hammarström
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D014478:Unemployment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Unemployment; adolescence; blood pressure; cohort studies; hypertension