Your Wealth And Your Health
Investigators at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital followed more than 5,000 adults age 50 or older who had no existing heart problems. They found that those whose wealth increased over time were less likely to develop cardiovascular diseases than those whose wealth decreased.
Researcher Andrew Sumarsono, M.D., from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center noted that “decreases in wealth are associated with more stress, fewer healthy behaviors, and less leisure time, all of which are associated with poorer cardiovascular health.” He added that it’s possible that the opposite is true “and may help to explain our study’s findings.”
“Wealth and health are so closely integrated that we can no longer consider them apart,” wrote Muthiah Vaduganathan, M.D., M.P.H. from Brigham and Women’s Hospital Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. He added that “in future investigations, we need to make dedicated efforts to routinely measure wealth and consider it a key determinant of cardiovascular health.”
Source:
Sara Machado, Andrew Sumarsono, Muthiah Vaduganathan. “Midlife Wealth Mobility and Long-term Cardiovascular Health.” JAMA Cardiology, 2021; DOI: 10.1001/jamacardio.2021.2056
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