--- title: Study: Fear of Job Loss Can Increase Asthma Risk description: The report looked at German adults during the recent economic downturn canonical: https://time.com/3423874/study-fear-of-job-loss-can-increase-asthma-risk/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-24T02:49:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:22:31.814Z article:section: Health og:title: Study: Fear of Job Loss Can Increase Asthma Risk og:description: The report looked at German adults during the recent economic downturn og:url: https://time.com/3423874/study-fear-of-job-loss-can-increase-asthma-risk/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Study: Fear of Job Loss Can Increase Asthma Risk twitter:description: The report looked at German adults during the recent economic downturn twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Study: Fear of Job Loss Can Increase Asthma Risk  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Sep 24, 2014 2:49 AM UTC  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Sep 24, 2014 2:49 AM UTC Fear of losing one’s job can cause a marked [increase](http://www.webmd.com/asthma/news/20140923/job-worries-can-raise-asthma-risk-study-says) in the risk of developing asthma, according to a new study released Tuesday. The study, published online in the _Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health_, found that for every 25% increase in job security that a worker felt, that worker’s likelihood of developing asthma increased by 24%. For people who told researchers it was more likely than not that they would lose their job, the risk of developing asthma climbed 60%. Fear of losing one’s job has been linked to a number of negative health outcomes, but this is the first time it has been linked to the risk of developing asthma, the study’s authors said. The study surveyed the records of more than 7,000 working German adults between 2009 and 2011, a time in which European economies were in downturn. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3423874/study-fear-of-job-loss-can-increase-asthma-risk/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3423874/study-fear-of-job-loss-can-increase-asthma-risk/"},"headline":"Study: Fear of Job Loss Can Increase Asthma Risk","datePublished":"2014-09-24T02:49:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:22:31.814Z","description":"The report looked at German adults during the recent economic downturn","url":"https://time.com/3423874/study-fear-of-job-loss-can-increase-asthma-risk/","keywords":["Asthma","Germany","financial crisis","health"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/asthma/","name":"Asthma"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3423874/study-fear-of-job-loss-can-increase-asthma-risk/","name":"Study: Fear of Job Loss Can Increase Asthma Risk"}}]}] ```