FORECLOSED ON? STRESSED OUT?

Dr. Brueck MD blogs here on matters of health. He is a Board Certified plastic surgeon in Fort Myers, Florida.

I have always felt that “stress” is truly America’s silent killer. Yes there’s asymptomatic high blood pressure or the silent building up of plaque in our arteries but stress, in my opinion, trumps them all.

I recently read an article in the Wall Street Journal (8/31/11) discussing the effects of the rash of home foreclosures on our health. I found it interesting, but really no surprise.

The research was conducted by Janet Carrie of Princeton and Edel Tekin of George State. They studied the health of patients’ in several states hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis – Arizona, Florida, New Jersey and California. They could have thrown in Nevada for good measure.

Through their collaborative efforts they found that an increase of 100 foreclosures resulted in a 7.2% rise in emergency visits and hospitalization for hypertension and an 8.1% increase in hospitalizations for diabetes in the 20-49 year old age group.

They also found visits to the doctor for “anxiety” increased by 12%. There were other negative side effects as well. Again, the results are not surprising.