Why do the rich live longer?

Yes, the rich are not only different from you and me. They also live longer, so says the World Health Organization, which further asserts, "People further down the social ladder usually run at least twice the risk of serious illness and premature death of those near the top."

Does wealth translate into health?

Maybe. For one thing, those with more money and higher social status have more access to medical care. But there’s more to it than a fat checkbook, according to sociologist Linda Gottfredson of the University of Delaware and psychologist Ian Deary of the University of Edinburgh, writes Dan Seligman in a special report published in the Healthy Options newsdigest. Delving into this age-old issue, the two scholars stoutly declare: The rich live longer mainly because they are smarter. This pronouncement is anchored on well-documented premises. To wit:

• Social status correlates strongly and positively with IQ and other measures of intelligence.

• Intelligence corresponds strongly with "health literacy," the ability to understand and follow a prescription for disease prevention and treatment.

• Intelligence is also associated with forward planning, which leads to avoidance of health risks, including smoking, as they are identified.

Intelligent people are bound to be the most knowledgeable about health-related issues. They’re the ones who are likely to buy health books and subscribe to health magazines.

Of course, over the past years, the big strides in health and longevity have been traced to improvements in public sanitation, immunization, and other initiatives that do not require making crucial decisions.

But sad to say, just when we’ve found the answers to our questions, the questions are changed. Because today, the major threats to health are chronic diseases (marked by long duration or frequent recurrence), which require patients to participate in the treatment, which means they need to understand what’s going on in their bodies.

The Gottfredson-Deary paper notes, "For better or worse, people are substantially their own primary health care providers."

Taking the role of the patient as a real job in the workplace, the authors add that as patients, intelligent people will learn what’s needed more quickly, will have a better grasp of what’s important and what’s not, and will be better able to cope with unforeseen emergencies.

But then it seems a lot of patients are doing their jobs badly, at the expense of their health. A Gottfredson paper cites that more than half of the 1.8 billion prescriptions issued annually in the US are taken incorrectly. The same study says that 10 percent of all hospitalizations are due to the inability of patients to manage their drug therapy. Another study reports that 30 percent of patients were taking medications in ways that seriously threatened their health. Meanwhile, low-income clinics noted a 60 percent noncompliance with doctors’ orders, often due to a simple failure to understand directions. (Or maybe failure to decipher the doctor’s chicken scratch of a handwriting?) In a sampling of over 2,000 patients in two urban hospitals, it was found that 42 percent did not understand the instructions for taking medicine on an empty stomach while 26 percent did not understand when the next appointment was scheduled. Of course, the problem is compounded in patients with chronic illnesses, like asthma, diabetes, and hypertension, that may require life-and-death decisions. For instance, the Gottfredson-Deary paper observes that a big majority of insulin-dependent diabetics could not tell when their blood sugar was too high or too low and how to get it back to normal.

And finally, there’s the lifestyle question. Smoking has been found to be more prevalent among the low-income class. According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, college graduates are three times more likely to live healthier lives than those who never got past high school.

Make no bones about it

Now, this is one tea-tillating piece of news: Taiwanese researchers say tea drinking may strengthen bones. Chinese scientists surveyed more than 1,000 men and women, aged 30 and above, and found that those who drank an average of nearly two cups of tea – make it black, green or oolong – daily for 10 years had a 6.2 percent greater hip-bone density than not-too-regular drinkers. The scientists say it’s because of the flavonoids, fluoride, and phytoestrogens – but a few of some 4,000 chemical compounds found in tea – that may help preserve bone-mineral density.

Tea, anyone?

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