Unemployment, multiple job losses and short periods without work may be associated with increased risk for acute myocardial infarction (AMI, heart attack), according to a report published online Monday by Archives of Internal Medicine.

Many adults in the United States are affected by the strain of employment instability, but little is known about the cumulative effect of multiple job losses and unemployment on the risks for AMI, according to the study background.

Matthew Dupre and colleagues from Duke University examined the associations between different dimensions of unemployment and the risks for AMI in 13,451 US adults aged from 51 to 75 years in the Health and Retirement Study with biennial follow-up interviews from 1992 to 2010.

"Results demonstrated that several features of one's past and present employment increased risks for a cardiovascular event. Although the risks for AMI were most significant in the first year after job loss, unemployment status, cumulative number of job losses and cumulative time unemployed were each independently associated with increased risk for AMI," the authors note.