Professor Michael Marmot, the principal investigator of the English Longitudinal Study on Aging (ELSA), and colleagues followed the health, wealth, relationships, retirement and other issues of 8,780 people born before 1952. The participants were interviewed every two years.
In their research Marmot and team found that "For each age group the richer had a lower risk of dying." Wealthier people were also less likely to suffer from 17 common chronic diseases including high blood pressure and diabetes.
However, the researchers noted that the quality of healthcare did not vary between the two groups, which suggested that other factors were contributory to the cause.
"Adult social position has a clear effect on health," said Marmot, adding that in older people social isolation kills.
But the study also found that 60 percent of 75-year-olds did not think of themselves as old.
Marmot said studies done in European countries and the United States revealed similar findings linking health and wealth.
He said that the redistribution of wealth was not the answer rather a better understanding of the causal relationship is needed.
"The challenge is not to abolish hierarchies. It is to understand better what links your position in the hierarchy to your health," he said.
Earlier results of similar research by ELSA have shown that Americans are not as healthy as the English.
