LONDON, Dec 11: British researchers said today they had found a stronger than expected link between unemployment and admission to psychiatric hospitals, reports Reuter.

The researchers working at the Bristol Health Authority in western England studied the rate of admission to psychiatric hospitals in the region around the port city between March 1990 and Marqh 1992. comparing them with local unemployment data for the same period.

"There was a remarkably strong correlation between admission rates, however calculated. and unemployment," they reported in the Bnt'-h medical Journal.

"The relation between socioeconomic factors and admission to psychiatric hospital has long been recognised." they said.

"What is surprising about our analysis is the power of the relation, with unemployment rates alone explaining over 90 per cent of the vari’’' .a in standardised admission ratios."

They said there was evidence to support a direct relation between unemployment and poor mental health, and cited studies identifying the development of psychiatric disorders after lengthy periods without work.