Losing your nest egg can kill you
A sudden loss of net worth in middle or older age is associated with a significantly higher risk of death, reports a new Northwestern Medicine and University of Michigan study.
When people lose 75% or more of their total wealth during a two-year period, they are 50% more likely to die in the next 20 years, the study found.
“We found losing your life-savings has a profound effect on person's long-term health,” says lead author Lindsay Pool, a research assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in the US.
“It’s a very pervasive issue. More than 25% of Americans had a wealth shock over the 20 years of the study.”
The study 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,” adds 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 didn't have any wealth accumulated and who are considered socially vulnerable in terms of their health. Their increased risk of mortality over 20 years was 67%.
"The most surprising finding was that having wealth and losing it is almost as bad for your life expectancy as never having wealth," notes Pool.
The likely cause of the increased death risk may be twofold.
“These people suffer a mental health toll because of the financial loss, as well as pulling back from medical care because they can't afford it,” says Pool.
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