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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Haijun Tian, Pardee RAND Graduate School, 1776 Main Street, PO Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90401-2138, 310-393-0411, Haijun_Tian@rand.org

(1) Research Objective: To analyze the effect of depression and comorbid pain on the transition from employment to full retirement among older adult workers, and compare differential effects between male and female workers. (2) Study Design: Using The Health and Retirement Survey (HRS), a longitudinal national representative survey of individuals born between 1931-1941—observations from 1994-2002, the study conducted multivariate logistic regression analysis with random effects, controlling for socio-demographics, chronic health conditions, insurance status, and job characteristics. The outcome is full retirement and primary explanatory variables are: depression only (based on short-form CESD), pain only (self-report of pain), and depression with comorbid pain. (3) Principal Findings: Depression and pain status has differential impacts on retirement for women workers and men workers. Depression and comorbid pain predict retirement, but depression alone may not. The social consequences of depression might be overestimated due to the compounding effect of comorbid pain. (4) Implications for Policy, Delivery or Practice: Retirement costs of depression and pain are probably high for older women since early retirement usually implies a decrease in an individual's earnings and possible loss of insurance (if individuals are still not qualified for Medicare or do not have retiree insurance). Therefore older American women with depression and pain deserve special policy considerations. The depressed older women with comorbid pain may benefit from treatment practices and guidelines that address the duality of these conditions throughout the process of care.

Learning Objectives:

• To analyze the effect of depression and comorbid pain on the transition from employment to full retirement among older adult workers, and compare differential effects between male and female workers.

Keywords: Depression, Aging

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered