No one will be surprised that stress related to money can affect health. But it goes even further.
For the first time, a team of researchers from Northwestern Medicine in Illinois and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (USA) have shown that losing personal wealth can significantly increase the risk of death.
Over the years, several studies have investigated the relationship between personal wealth and health. In general, wealthier people tend to live longer than poorer people, but the reasons for this are complex.
The most recent study investigating the impact of money on health set out to explore whether the loss of money could also affect longevity.
The paper, published in the journal JAMA, found that over a 20-year period, more than a quarter of middle-aged and older people in the United States experienced "negative outcomes" from a "wealth shock.
The impact of the negative balance
The negative wealth shock was defined as the loss of 75% of an individual's personal wealth over the course of 2 years. Although losses soared during the Great Recession (from 2007 to early 2010), this figure was persistent in all types of economic climates.
The researchers also measured health outcomes for individuals with active or poor poverty, defined by the study authors as "zero or negative net worth at study entry.
The team took data from the Health and Retirement Study, designed by the National Institute on Aging. Data collection began in 1992 and they assessed a representative group of citizens comprising more than 8,700 adults, aged 50 or over, with a review every 2 years.
The findings make a grim reading: "We found that losing a lifetime's savings has a profound effect on a person's long-term health," says Lindsay Pool, study leader.
In fact, people who experienced a negative wealth impact were 50% more likely to die in the next 20 years than those who did not.
"Our findings offer new evidence of a potentially important social determinant of health that has so far not been recognized: the sudden loss of wealth in late middle-aged or older people," says study co-author Carlos Mendes de León.
Looking at those with asset poverty, the picture was equally bleak; their risk of mortality in 20 years increased by 67%. This finding came as no surprise. However, as Pool points out, "the most surprising finding was that having wealth and losing it was almost as bad for life expectancy as never having had wealth.
Why are these people more likely to die?
Given that the results of thousands of people were analyzed, causation is difficult to pinpoint, and there is unlikely to be a simple answer for everyone, but the study authors believe that there are likely to be two key issues: "These people suffer from worsening mental health due to financial loss, as well as withdrawal from medical care because they cannot afford it.
According to experts, physicians need to be aware of their patients' financial circumstances. "It's something they should ask to understand if their patients may have a greater risk to their health," Pool said.
The study is the first to look at the relationship between negative wealth shock and life expectancy.