1. 1 Depressive Symptoms and Older US Workers: the NHIS 1997-2003  World-wide, major depressive disorder is the second most disabling condition in adults.  Lost productivity due to depression in US workers is estimated to cost $7 billion annually.  More US workers are working past traditional retirement age, yet the association between depression and occupation in older adults is poorly understood.  This study assessed the association between employment status, occupational classification and depressive symptoms in the older (>65 yrs) U.S. population. Christ SL, Lee D, Chung Bridges K, Fleming LE, Arheart K, LeBlanc WG, Caban A, Pitman T Dept Epidemiology & Public Health (University of Miami Miller School of Medicine), Odum Research Institute (UNC Chapel Hill, NC)

2. 2 Methods  Respondents >65 yrs from the nationally representative 1997-2000 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).  Structural equation model: depressive symptoms compared across older workers and older non-workers controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and education.  Disability is added as a predictor of employment and depressive symptoms to account for the healthy worker effect.  Depressive symptoms and disability constructs estimated with multiple indicators and measurement error removed.  Analyses completed with adjustments for sample weights and design effects using the M-Plus statistical package, version 3.13.

3. 3 Results  Controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity and education, older US workers reported lower levels of depressive symptoms than older non-workers.  Among older US workers, report of depressive symptoms was Lowest: 1) Farmers, forestry, and fishing workers, 2) Precision production, craft, repair workers, and 3) Protective service workers. Highest: 1) Private household workers, 2) Machine operators, assemblers, inspector workers, and 3) Technicians and related support workers.  Accounting for disability revealed that older workers in the service and blue collar sectors have marginally higher levels of depressive symptoms as compared to non-workers.

4. 4 Results

5. 5 Conclusion/Recommendations  Older US workers reported fewer depressive symptoms than older non-workers.  Certain older US worker groups were more affected than others.  After accounting for the healthy worker effect using disability the protective effect of work goes away.  Depressive symptoms have been associated with significant morbidity and mortality for older adults in the US, thus understanding the social conditions (including work) that affect depressive symptoms is important and necessary for the proper diagnosis and prevention. Thank you / Questions?