Loss of wealth leads to loss of health among middle-aged

Money may not be able to buy happiness, but a new study suggests it does buy health.

Researchers in the United States discovered that people who lost at least 75 per cent of their nest eggs in middle or older age were 50 per cent more likely to die in the next 20 years.

The researchers say the financial loss takes a heavy toll on physical and mental health.

“We found losing your life-savings has a profound effect on a person’s long-term health,” said lead author Dr Lindsay Pool, a research assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “It’s a very pervasive issue. It wasn’t just a few individuals but more than 25 per cent of Americans had a wealth shock over the 20 years of the study.”

The study, which is published in the journal Jama, is the first to look at the long-term effects of a large financial loss.

“Our findings offer new evidence for a potentially important social determinant of health that so far has not been recognised: sudden loss of wealth in late middle or older age,” said senior author Carlos Mendes de Leon, professor of epidemiology and global public health at University of Michigan’s School of Public Health.

The study also examined a group of low-income people who did not have accumulated wealth and were socially vulnerable in terms of their health. Their increased risk of mortality over 20 years was 67 per cent.

“The most surprising finding was that having wealth and losing it is almost as bad for your life expectancy as never having wealth,” said Dr Pool.

The study looked at longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study, which was started by the National Institute on Ageing in 1992 and follows 8,000 participants, monitoring health and well-being.

The team plans to investigate the mechanisms that lead to higher mortality after a big financial loss.