Wealth may protect middle-aged people against stroke

Money can't buy love or happiness, It's True. But, it can protect some people against stroke, a study of middle-aged Americans suggested. The new study released Thursday in the journal Stroke found a clear link between wealth and health.

According to the researchers, higher wealth is linked with a lower risk of stroke in Americans between the ages of 50 and 64. However, it does not predict strokes in those over age 65.

"We confirmed that lower wealth, education and income are associated with increased stroke up to age 65, and wealth is the strongest predictor of stroke among the factors we looked at," said Mauricio Avendano, Ph.D., a research fellow at the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands and co-author of the study. "After age 65, the association of education, income and wealth with stroke are very weak, and wealth did not clearly predict stroke."

To reach their findings, a team of researchers analyzed data from 19,445 men and women involved in the ongoing University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study that surveys people aged 50 and over every two years. The study subjects were stroke-free when they entered the study in 1992, 1993 or 1998.

Over an average period of 8.5, years, 1,542 people suffered a stroke.

Study author Avendano and his fellow researcher, M. Maria Glymour of the Harvard School of Public Health, divided the participants' wealth levels into six categories. They then compared them to those in the 75th to 89th percentile. This group represents "those in the highest wealth or income groups but excludes possible outliers among the very rich -- or the ultra rich."

Researchers found that the 10% at the bottom of the wealth ladder had three times more stroke risk between the ages of 50 and 64 than those in the 75th to 89th percentile, excluding the "ultra-rich".

However after the age of 65 there was no difference in stroke risk between the two wealth groups for men or women.

"We expected wealth to be a strong predictor of stroke in the elderly," Avendano said. "We were surprised to see that it was not associated with stroke beyond age 65."

Avendano further noted that most of the Americans are not in strong financial shape by the time they hit age 50 that can have a negative impact on their health.

The researchers found that both wealth -- the totality of assets a person has - and income were independent risk factors for stroke at ages 50 to 64. "Wealth more comprehensively reflects both lifelong earnings and inter-generational transfers, and increases access to medical care and other material and psychosocial resources," said Avendando.

The study also associated lack of wealth, income and education with the common risk factors for stroke, including high blood pressure, smoking, low physical activity, excess weight, diabetes and heart disease.