メディエイゴ

The Great Depression(1) had a silver lining(2): During that hard time, U.S. life expectancy(3) actually increased by 6.2 years, according to(4) a University of Michigan study published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(5).

Life expectancy rose from 57.1 in 1929 to 63.3 years in 1932, according to the analysis by U-M(6) researchers José A. Tapia Granados and Ana Diez Roux. The increase occurred for both men and women, and for whites and non-whites(7).

"The finding(8) is strong and counterintuitive(9)," said Tapia Granados, the lead author of the study(10) and a researcher(11) at the U-M Institute for Social Research(12) (ISR). "Most people assume that periods of high unemployment(13) are harmful to health."

For the study, researchers used historical(14) life expectancy and mortality(15) data to examine associations between economic growth(16) and population health for 1920 to 1940. They found that while population health generally improved during the four years of the Great Depression and during recessions(17) in 1921 and 1938, mortality increased and life expectancy declined during periods of strong economic expansion(18), such as 1923, 1926, 1929, and 1936-1937.

The researchers analyzed age-specific(19) mortality rates and rates due to six causes of death(20) that composed about two-thirds of total mortality in the 1930s: cardiovascular(21) and renal(22) diseases, cancer(23), influenza(24) and pneumonia(25), tuberculosis(26), motor vehicle traffic injuries, and suicide(27). The association between improving health and economic slowdowns(28) was true for all ages, and for every major cause of death except one: suicide.