Scientists made the discovery after examining a genetic marker of biological ageing in DNA samples from 5,620 Finnish men and women.
They focused on telomeres, caps on the ends of chromosomes that prevent DNA becoming frayed and degraded. Telomeres shorten as cells divide, at different rates over the lifetime of different individuals.
The British and Finnish scientists looked at telomere length in blood cell samples collected in 1997, when all the participants were 31 years old.
Men who had been unemployed for more than two of the preceding three years were more than twice as likely to have short telomeres as men who were continuously employed. The trend was not seen in women, but fewer women in the study had been unemployed for long periods.
Dr Jessica Buxton, from Imperial College London, who co-led the research reported in the online journal ‘Public Library of Science ONE’, said: “Shorter telomeres are linked to higher risk of various age-related diseases and earlier death. We have now shown that long-term unemployment may cause premature ageing.”
Irish Independent
