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Income Volatility and Depressive Symptoms among Elderly Koreans.

ABSTRACT: This study examines the relationship between volatile income and depression, and moderating effects of living arrangements among older adults in South Korea. Using the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging, we studied 4123 adults aged 60 or older. Income volatility was defined as the variance of logged income across four assessments from 2006 to 2012. Depression was measured as the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scores in 2012. It was examined whether income volatility was related to depressive symptoms, and whether the association depended on co-residence with children. In results, income volatility was not related to CES-D scores in main-effect models without an interaction term. The relationship between income volatility and depressive symptoms depended on co-residence with children (p < 0.001). Higher income volatility was linked to increased risks of CES-D scores among the elderly living without children (incident rate ratio (IRR): 1.27, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07-1.50, p-value: 0.005) whereas it was related to lower CES-D scores among those co-residing with children (IRR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.52-0.88, p-value: 0.003). Absolute income volatility has detrimental psychological consequences for older adults who live on their own. The finding implies that social protection policies for elderly households that live with an unstable income are needed.

SUBMITTER: Kim S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6801608 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Income Volatility and Depressive Symptoms among Elderly Koreans.

Kim Sujin S Subramanian S V SV

International journal of environmental research and public health 20190925 19

This study examines the relationship between volatile income and depression, and moderating effects of living arrangements among older adults in South Korea. Using the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging, we studied 4123 adults aged 60 or older. Income volatility was defined as the variance of logged income across four assessments from 2006 to 2012. Depression was measured as the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scores in 2012. It was examined whether income volatility was rela ...[more]

PMID: 31557823

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Project description:BackgroundIncome inequality has dramatically increased worldwide, and there is a need to re-evaluate the association between socio-economic status (SES) and depression. Relative contributions of household income and education to depression, as well as their interactions, have not been fully evaluated. This study aimed to examine the association between SES and depressive symptoms in Japanese adults, focusing on interactions between education and household income levels.MethodsThis cross-sectional study used data from baseline surveys of two cohort studies. Participants were 38,499 community-dwelling people aged 40-74 years who participated in baseline surveys of the Murakami cohort study (2011-2012) and Uonuma cohort study (2012-2015) conducted in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. Information regarding marital status, education level, household income, occupation, activities of daily living (ADL), and history of cancer, myocardial infarction, stroke, and diabetes was obtained using a self-administered questionnaire. Depressive symptoms were examined using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Logistic regression analysis was used to obtain odds ratios (ORs). Covariates included age, sex, marital status, education, household income, occupation, ADL, and disease history.ResultsIndividuals with higher education levels had lower ORs (adjusted P for trend = 0.0007) for depressive symptoms, independently of household income level. The OR of the university-or-higher group was significantly lower than that of the junior high school group (adjusted OR = 0.79). Individuals with lower household income levels had higher ORs (adjusted P for trend< 0.0001) for depressive symptoms, independently of education level. The type of occupation was not associated with depressive symptoms. In subgroup analyses according to household income level, individuals with higher education levels had significantly lower ORs in the lowest- and lower-income groups (adjusted P for trend = 0.0275 and 0.0123, respectively), but not in higher- and highest-income groups (0.5214 and 0.0915, respectively).ConclusionsBoth education and household income levels are independently associated with the prevalence of depressive symptoms, with household income levels showing a more robust association with depressive symptoms than education levels. This suggests that a high household income level may offset the risk of depressive symptoms from having a low education level.

Project description:Background:Depression and dementia are common incapacitating diseases in old age. The exact nature of the relationship between these conditions remains unclear, and multiple explanations have been suggested: depressive symptoms may be a risk factor for, a prodromal symptom of, or a coincidental finding in dementia. They may even be unrelated or only connected through common risk factors. Multiple studies so far have provided conflicting results. Objectives:To determine whether a systematic literature review can clarify the nature of the relation between depressive symptoms and dementia. Methods:Using the Patient/Problem/Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome or PICO paradigm, a known framework for framing healthcare and evidence questions, we formulated the question "whether depressive symptoms in cognitively intact older adults are associated with a diagnosis of dementia later in life." We performed a systematic literature review of MEDLINE and PsycINFO in November 2018, looking for prospective cohort studies examining the aforementioned question. Results:We critically analyzed and listed 31 relevant papers out of 1,656 and grouped them according to the main hypothesis they support: depressive symptoms as a risk factor, not a risk factor, a prodromal symptom, both, or some specific other hypothesis. All but three studies used clinical diagnostic criteria for dementia alone (i.e., no biomarkers or autopsy confirmation). Several studies contain solid arguments for the hypotheses they support, yet they do not formally contradict other findings or suggested explanations and are heterogeneous. Conclusions:The exact nature of the relationship between depressive symptoms and dementia in the elderly remains inconclusive, with multiple studies supporting both the risk factor and prodromal hypotheses. Some provide arguments for common risk factors. It seems unlikely that there is no connection at all. We conclude that at least in a significant part of the patients, depressive symptoms and dementia are related. This may be due to common risk factors and/or depressive symptoms being a prodromal symptom of dementia and/or depression being a risk factor for dementia. These causal associations possibly overlap in some patients. Further research is warranted to develop predictive biomarkers and to develop interventions that may attenuate the risk of "conversion" from depressive symptoms to dementia in the elderly.

Dataset Information

Income Volatility and Depressive Symptoms among Elderly Koreans.

Publications

Income Volatility and Depressive Symptoms among Elderly Koreans.

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