How Losing Money Can Increase Your Risk of Heart Disease —Even If You’re Young

Money issues are a common source of anxiety — and they can have negative effects on heart health for both young people and for those who are older, researchers have found. In a new study published in the journal Circulation, scientists collected data from nearly 4,000 people for 15 years, starting from when they were 23 years to 35 years old. They asked them for their income at the start of the study and four more times, and also analyzed their medical records for heart events and deaths. During the study period, the researchers found that people who experienced more income volatility — which mostly consisted of drops in income — had more than double the risk of having heart problems, and nearly double the risk of dying early, compared to those with more stable incomes. Much of the income instability resulted from periods of unemployment or pay cuts after changing jobs. Researchers also focused on people who had lost 25% or more of their income from the last assessment and found that both volatility and reductions in income were associated with greater risk of heart events like heart attacks, strokes and heart failure, as well as early death. The size of the effect surprised the scientists. “We assumed that income drops or frequent changes in income were probably not good for health, considering that these are thought of as stressful events. But we were surprised by the magnitude of the effect we saw, since we were looking at a relatively young popu...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Heart Disease Source Type: news