Open AccessDoes long‐term experience of nonstandard employment increase the incidence of depression in the elderly?
Author(s) -
Kang MoYeol,
Kang YoungJoong,
Lee Woncheol,
Yoon JinHa
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of occupational health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 59
ISSN - 1348-9585
DOI - 10.1539/joh.15-0169-oa
Subject(s) - depression (economics) , hazard ratio , marital status , medicine , proportional hazards model , demography , longitudinal study , confidence interval , incidence (geometry) , center for epidemiologic studies depression scale , population , gerontology , psychology , depressive symptoms , psychiatry , cognition , environmental health , surgery , physics , pathology , sociology , optics , economics , macroeconomics
Objectives Our prospective study aimed to elucidate the effect of long‐term experience of nonstandard employment status on the incidence of depression in elderly population using the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA) study. Methods This study used the first‐ to fourth‐wave cohorts of KLoSA. After the exclusion of the unemployed and participants who experienced a change in employment status during the followup periods, we analyzed a total of 1,817 participants. Employment contracts were assessed by self‐reported questions : standard or nonstandard employment. The short form of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES‐D) served as the outcome measure. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models to evaluate the association between standard/nonstandard employees and development of depression. Results The mean age of the participants was 53.90 (± 7.21) years. We observed that nonstandard employment significantly increased the risk of depression. Compared with standard employees, nonstandard employees had a 1.5‐fold elevated risk for depression after adjusting for age, gender, CES‐D score at baseline, household income, occupation category, current marital status, number of living siblings, perceived health status, and chronic diseases [HR=1.461, 95% CI=(1.184, 1.805)]. Moreover, regardless of other individual characteristics, the elevated risk of depression was observed among all kinds of nonstandard workers, such as temporary and day workers, full‐time and part‐time workers, and directly employed and dispatched labor. Conclusions The 6‐year follow‐up study revealed that long‐term experience of nonstandard employment status increased the risk of depression in elderly population in Korea.