HL Deb 02 July 1981 vol 422 c399WA
Baroness Seear

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What conclusions on the effects of unemployment on health they have been able to draw from the Department of Health's cohort study of men who registered as unemployed during the autumn of 1978.

Lord Cullen of Ashbourne

The DHSS Cohort Study was not primarily designed to examine the effects of unemployment on health. However, respondents were asked about their state of health and preliminary analyses of the answers to these questions provide little or no evidence that unemployment affected health during the year that the circumstances of those concerned were kept under review. The department is currently considering what further work needs to be done in this area.