Study: Lowering Your Salary Can Be Fatal

A recent study found that getting a salary increase may protect against heart disease and strokes, while lowering it increases the incidence of these diseases.

According to the study published by the British newspaper Daily Mail, the risk of strokes and heart attacks increased by nearly 20% in men and women whose income decreased.

The research team, from Brigham and Harvard Medical School, explains that their findings may lead doctors to pay more attention to patients' financial conditions while screening for heart disease.

Previous studies have found that having a higher income is associated with a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease, however, only a few studies have investigated the relationship between changes in salary and heart disease.

"This study reinforces the need to raise awareness among health workers about the impact of changes in income on health to improve treatment effectiveness," said Dr. Scott Solomon, chief physician at Brigham Womens Hospital.

The study included about 9,000 participants from four different fields of work in the United States, and the team followed them for an average of 17 years.

The researchers found that those whose salaries rose had a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease, by more than 14%.

This is mainly due to the reduced risk of developing heart failure.

But participants whose income decreased had an increased risk of cardiovascular disease by 17%, because lower income leads to a poor diet, such as eating more cheap, processed foods full of fat and sugar, and thus this increases the risk of heart attack or stroke. .

Low salaries can also lead to stress and anxiety, which in turn is linked to smoking and alcohol use. It may also cause depression, which in turn increases the risk of coronary artery disease.