Financial Strain and Physical Health

The sources are two systematic reviews and cohort and cross-sectional studies of financial strain and physical health. Samuel 2024 (systematic review of 199 US studies) reports that, regardless of measure, financial strain was associated with poorer mental, physical, biological and functional health and worse health behaviours, and concludes that it is robustly linked to poor health. Palta 2015 (cross-sectional) reports 13.4% higher protein-carbonyl concentrations, a marker of oxidative stress, with high financial strain among older women, and concludes that high strain may be associated with increased oxidative stress. In other single studies, psychological well-being mediated the association between financial stress and interleukin-6 (Sturgeon 2016); financial strain was associated with reduced blood-pressure reactivity to acute stress (Steptoe 2020); meeting sleep and physical-activity recommendations attenuated the association between financial stress and metabolic syndrome (Kuo 2022); high debt relative to assets was associated with higher diastolic blood pressure and worse self-reported health (Sweet 2013); and more financial stressors were associated with lower ideal cardiovascular health in middle-aged and older women (Cabeza de Baca 2019). Long-term financial hardship was reflected in poorer late-life health after controlling for current circumstances (Kahn 2006), and midlife financial stress was associated with later cognitive and physical impairment, partly mediated by smoking and sleep disturbance (Kåreholt 2025). De Lima Silva 2014 (systematic review of 20 cohort studies) lists financial stress among the determinants significantly associated with mortality in older people. These are observational designs: they report associations, and none tests whether easing financial strain changes these outcomes. If money worry is affecting your safety, crisis support is available at 988 in the US.