Financial strain is associated with increased oxidative stress levels: the Women's Health and Aging Studies

Priya Palta; Sarah L Szanton; Richard D Semba; Roland J Thorpe; Ravi Varadhan; Linda P Fried

doi:10.1016/j.gerinurse.2015.02.020

Financial strain is associated with increased oxidative stress levels: the Women's Health and Aging Studies

Geriatr Nurs. 2015 Mar-Apr;36(2 Suppl):S33-7. doi: 10.1016/j.gerinurse.2015.02.020. Epub 2015 Mar 14.

Authors

Priya Palta¹, Sarah L Szanton², Richard D Semba³, Roland J Thorpe⁴, Ravi Varadhan⁵, Linda P Fried⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. Electronic address: priya_palta@unc.edu.
² Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD, USA; Center on Aging and Health, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA.
³ Center on Aging and Health, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁴ Center on Aging and Health, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁵ Center on Aging and Health, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA; Division of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁶ Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA.

Abstract

Elevated oxidative stress levels may be one mechanism contributing to poor health outcomes. Financial strain and oxidative stress are each predictors of morbidity and mortality, but little research has investigated their relationship. Community-dwelling older adults (n = 728) from the Women's Health and Aging Studies I and II were included in this cross-sectional analysis. Financial strain was ascertained as an ordinal response to: "At the end of the month, do you have more than enough money left over, just enough, or not enough?" Oxidative stress was measured using serum protein carbonyl concentrations. Linear regression was used to quantify the relationship between financial strain and oxidative stress. Participants who reported high financial strain exhibited 13.4% higher protein carbonyl concentrations compared to individuals who reported low financial strain (p = 0.002). High financial strain may be associated with increased oxidative stress, suggesting that oxidative stress could mediate associations between financial strain and poor health.

Keywords: Financial strain; Older adults; Oxidative stress.

MeSH terms

Aged
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Financing, Personal*
Humans
Independent Living
Oxidative Stress*
Stress, Psychological / complications*
Women's Health

Grants and funding

P60 MD000214/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/United States