Great Recession Study Highlights How Economic Upheaval Negatively Affects Personal Health
Researchers looked at blood pressure and glucose levels, which are ideal metrics for studying the impact of a short-term shock like the recession. The groups that showed some of the largest increases — adults who were likely working but approaching retirement and older, educated homeowners — are exactly the people who were likely to be hit hardest by the recession’s effects.
Stat:
During The Great Recession, Fewer People Took Their Medications
The Great Recession had dramatic and visible effects: Millions of Americans lost their homes; more than 8 million people lost their jobs. But a new study finds that it also had invisible effects on people’s health — and that those effects could have long-term consequences. Using a long-running study on heart health, scientists evaluated blood pressure and blood glucose measurements from 2000 to 2012. They found that those metrics were significantly worse after the recession hit in 2007 — at least in part due to fewer people taking their medicines. (Sheridan, 3/12)
The Washington Post:
The Great Recession Raised America’s Blood Pressure, Study Finds
As if we don't have enough to worry about — given daily political drama, volatile stock markets and North Korean nuclear threats — a new study suggests that living through such times of instability and societal upheaval can greatly worsen personal health. Using large data sets gathered before and after the Great Recession, researchers found significantly higher blood pressure and blood sugar levels in American adults. (Wan, 3/12)
