Lower Wealth Linked with Faster Physical and Mental Aging
People with lower household wealth (or socioeconomic status) have a higher risk of many diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and depression. Less is known about how socioeconomic status influences the general aging process.
To look more closely at this question, researchers followed more than 5,000 adults, aged 52 and older, for 8 years beginning in 2004. The team broke the study participants into four groups based on household wealth.
Differences in health between the groups were seen in all domains over time. All four measures of physical capability declined more in the groups with less wealth. For example, people in the lowest wealth group had a 38% greater reduction in walking speed over 8 years compared to those with the highest wealth.
Almost 16% of people in the lowest wealth group reported developing problems with vision over the course of the study, compared to about 10% of people in the wealthiest group. The groups with lower wealth showed higher levels of inflammation markers over time and greater decline in lung function.
These results add to the growing evidence showing socioeconomic status can affect physical and mental health over time. However, more study is needed to understand how wealth impacts the aging body and mind.
Reference
- Steptoe, A., & Zaninotto, P. (2020). Lower socioeconomic status and the acceleration of aging: An outcome-wide analysis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(26), 14911-14917.