Mortgage delinquency and changes in access to health resources and depressive symptoms in a nationally representative cohort of Americans older than 50 years.
OBJECTIVE
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.
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA. dalley@epi.umaryland.edu
Dawn E
DE
Alley
Jennifer
J
Lloyd
José A
JA
Pagán
Craig E
CE
Pollack
Michelle
M
Shardell
Carolyn
C
Cannuscio
D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D016527:Drug Costs; D057172:Economic Recession; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006304:Health Status; D006798:Housing / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology; D014481:United States