Does the Stress of Student Loan Debt Negatively Impact Heart Health?

Years (or even decades) of monthly payments might not be the only downside to taking out a student loan. New research published May 3 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that individuals who failed to pay down student debt or who took on new educational debt between young adulthood and early midlife had a greater risk of cardiovascular disease than people who never took out loans.

More Than 45 Million Americans Are Paying Down Student Loans

As the price of college has increased, students and their own families have taken on more debt to access and stay static in college, says the study’s lead author, Adam M. Lippert, Ph.D., a professor and researcher in the department of sociology at the University of Colorado in Denver.

“Student debt has exploded in the united kingdom, with over 45 million Americans paying down educational loans,” says Dr. Lippert. According to the Urban Institute, about 70 percent of students who are given a four-year degree have education debt if they graduate. These loans tie up money that may be applied to investments or to get home, adds Lippert.

Previous research indicates that in the short term, student debt burdens are associated with self-reported health and mental health concerns, based on the authors. “We thought student debt may also have implications for cardiovascular health — and our results suggest it does,” says Lippert.

How Student Debt Impacts Heart Health and Stress

To do the research, investigators used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), a panel study of 20,745 adolescents and teens in grades 7 to 12 who were first interviewed through the 1994–1995 school year. Four more “waves” of data were collected over a period greater than 20 years; within the last few waves, participants were invited to in-home medical exams.

Researchers then assessed biological measures of cardiovascular health of the 4,193 remaining qualifying subjects utilizing the 30-year Framingham cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk score, which considers sex, age, blood pressure, antihypertensive treatment, smoking status, diabetes diagnosis, and body mass index to gauge the likelihood of cardiovascular disease over the next 30 years of life. They also looked at C-reactive protein levels (CRP), a biomarker of chronic or systemic inflammation.

The investigators classified people who had taken out student loans based on the following: never had student debt, repaid student debt, took on student debt between waves and were consistently in debt. To try to isolate the impact of the student loans, models were adjusted for respondent household and family characteristics, including education, income, sex, age, and other demographic information.

The researchers discovered that 37 percent of the participants did not report student debt in either wave, 12 percent had repaid their loans, 28 percent took on student debt, and 24 percent consistently had debt.

Key findings included:

• The people who consistently had debt or took on debt had higher cardiovascular risk scores than people who had never experienced debt and people who repaid their debt.
• Participants who took on new debt or were consistently in debt between young adulthood and early midlife had clinically significant CRP value estimates greater than their counterparts who never had debt or paid it off.
• According to the authors, individuals who repaid debt had significantly lower CVD risk scores than people who never took out a student loan; this suggests that relieving the burden of student debt could improve population health.

Race and ethnicity had no impact on the results.

Supplemental analyses suggested that, on balance, a college degree provides health advantages even to those with student debt, based on the authors.

Lippert points out that the subjects in this study visited a college when student debt averaged around $25,000 for four-year college graduates, a figure that’s risen substantially since this data was collected. “Unless something is performed to reduce the costs of likely to college and forgive outstanding debts, the consequences of climbing student loan debt will likely grow,” he says.

Some Forms of Loans May Tax Our Health More

Other kinds of debt may also negatively impact health, says Lippert. “Past research shows that bank card debt is also damaging to one’s mental and physical health,” he says. He explains that mortgage debt does not appear to have the same influence because it may constitute a ‘necessary debt among borrowers to facilitate wealth accumulation.

Financial Burdens Such as Student Loans May Result in Stress and Chronic Inflammation

“Financial burdens like student loan debt are stressors that tax the human body in many ways, including chronic inflammation and potentially behavioral responses to manage stress,” says Lippert.

“If yesteryear 36 months have taught us anything, not all of our behavioral coping mechanisms are healthy ones, but our research does not clarify the extent to which health behaviors explain our findings,” he says.

Loan Relief Could Improve Cardiovascular Risk in Some Individuals

In the near term, loan relief would lower stress and cardiovascular risk for those with student debt, says Lippert. “In the future, we need to rethink how we finance higher education institutions where the future labor force is trained. The Great Recession left a reduction in financial support for universities from states. Still, time for pre-recession funding levels would help ensure a method of getting workers free of debt and prepared for the jobs of tomorrow,” he says.

Unlike other developed societies, the United States leaves adults independently to cover college, says Lippert. “Our research only demonstrates the penalties with this arrangement, but it does raise a question about what we value as a community; when we limit college access to only people who can buy tuition without loans, we’re effectively declaring that the education of lower-income folks is unimportant,” he says.