The Longitudinal Association Between Retirement and Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Am J Epidemiol. 2021 Apr 29:kwab125. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwab125. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to collect the evidence of the relationship between retirement and depression through meta-analysis, and further analyze the heterogeneity of results. The quality of the studies was rated based on ten predefined criteria. We searched articles published between 1980 and 2020 and a total of 25 longitudinal studies were included in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis results showed that retirement was associated with more depressive symptoms (d =0.044, 95%CI 0.008 to 0.080). The association of involuntary retirement (d = 0.180, 95%CI 0.061 to 0.299) with more depressive symptoms was stronger than voluntary retirement (d = 0.086, 95%CI -0.018 to 0.190) and regulatory retirement (d = 0.009, 95%CI -0.079 to 0.097). Retirement was significantly associated with more depressive symptoms in eastern developed countries (d = 0.126, 95%CI 0.041 to 0.210), and the association was stronger than that in western developed countries (d = 0.016, 95%CI -0.023 to 0.055). These findings suggest that the transition to retirement was associated with higher risk of depression and this association varied by the type of retirement and country. Further empirical studies need to explore the mechanism of retirement and depression and whether such association was linked with socio-economic position.PMID:33913467 | DOI:10.1093/aje/kwab125
Source: Am J Epidemiol - Category: Epidemiology Authors: Source Type: research