TY - JOUR T1 - Mortgage delinquency and changes in access to health resources and depressive symptoms in a nationally representative cohort of Americans older than 50 years. JF - Am J Public Health Y1 - 2011 A1 - Dawn E Alley A1 - Jennifer Lloyd A1 - José A Pagán A1 - Craig E Pollack A1 - Michelle Shardell A1 - Carolyn Cannuscio KW - depression KW - Drug Costs KW - Economic Recession KW - Female KW - Health Services Accessibility KW - Health Status KW - Housing KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Medication Adherence KW - Middle Aged KW - Socioeconomic factors KW - Stress, Psychological KW - United States AB -

OBJECTIVES: We evaluated associations between mortgage delinquency and changes in health and health-relevant resources over 2 years, with data from the Health and Retirement Study, a longitudinal survey representative of US adults older than 50 years.

METHODS: In 2008, participants reported whether they had fallen behind on mortgage payments since 2006 (n = 2474). We used logistic regression to compare changes in health (incidence of elevated depressive symptoms, major declines in self-rated health) and access to health-relevant resources (food, prescription medications) between participants who fell behind on their mortgage payments and those who did not.

RESULTS: Compared with nondelinquent participants, the mortgage-delinquent group had worse health status and less access to health-relevant resources at baseline. They were also significantly more likely to develop incident depressive symptoms (odds ratio [OR] = 8.60; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.38, 21.85), food insecurity (OR = 7.53; 95% CI = 3.01, 18.84), and cost-related medication nonadherence (OR = 8.66; 95% CI = 3.72, 20.16) during follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS: Mortgage delinquency was associated with significant elevations in the incidence of mental health impairments and health-relevant material disadvantage. Widespread mortgage default may have important public health implications.

PB - 101 VL - 101 IS - 12 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22021301?dopt=Abstract U2 - PMC3222434 ER -