Financial health can have a whole lot to do with physical health, researchers say. Ohio State University researchers found people with a lot of credit card debt have more physical ailments and a lower standard of health than those carrying a lighter balance.
The study, in the journal Social Science & Medicine, looks at 1,036 Ohio residents. Co-author Paul Lavrakas says stress comes from knowing you owe a lot of money and that you're paying high interest.
While the effects of credit card debt on health are not huge compared with other factors, such as age, education or specific health risk factors such as obesity, the debt-health link remains constant even when adjusted for age and income.
Researchers say they looked at a variety of measures related to credit card debt such as the number of charge cards used and whether a balance was carried from month to month. But they found the only factor related to health was the ratio of credit card debt to total family income.
Lavrakas says that is a more accurate measure of economic hardship than income alone because it shows whether people are living within their means. He adds two people may have the same income but the person more heavily in debt will have more health-related problems.
