Divorce kills

One of the 3 social factors that kill

Smoking, divorce and heavy alcohol consumption are the three main social factors that are most closely related to premature death.

Financial problems and racism are also proving deadly, even to levels higher than lack of exercise.

This is according to a study by American and Canadian scientists. The researchers, led by Assistant Professor Eli Paterman of the University of British Columbia, who published the journal in the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), analysed data from 1992-2008 for 13,611 adults aged 52 to 104 years, and focused on those factors that were most relevant to those who died over the next six years (2008-2014).

Of the total 57 factors identified and analysed, the ten most closely related to death, in order of importance, are: Smoking, history of divorce, history of alcohol abuse, recent financial difficulties, history of unemployment, history of smoking in the past, low life satisfaction, celibacy, history of extreme poverty (resorting to social meals) and negative emotions.

Smoking almost doubles the risk of death within the next six years, while heavy alcohol consumption increases it by 36% and divorce even more, by 45%.

Financial difficulties increase the probability of premature death within the next six years by 32%, while lack of physical exercise by only 15%.

For an African-American, in particular, because of racism and social discrimination, the risk of dying prematurely is 22% higher than that of a white person.

"You need an overall life expectancy approach to really understand health and mortality," said Dr. Paterman, whose study deliberately did not take into account the biomedical factors that affect life expectancy in order to highlight the socio-economic and psychological-behavioral dimension.

Source: gr.euronews