Yang Jieun, Lee Sang Gyu
Department of Public Health, Graduate School, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea; Division of New Health Technology Assessment, National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency, Seoul 04933, Republic of Korea.
Department of Preventive Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea.
J Affect Disord. 2024 May 1;352:454-459. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.02.082. Epub 2024 Feb 23.
The effective age of retirement in South Korea is higher than the average of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Early retirement in Asia may affect mental health differently compared to western countries. Thus, we examined the association between retirement age and depressive symptoms among South Korean retirees.
We used data from the 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019 Korean Retirement and Income Panel Study, including a total of 2998, 3152, 3203, 3154, and 3055 participants, respectively. We excluded those younger than 50 years, non-retirees, those without information on the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale, and those with other missing values. We used a generalized estimating equation model to identify the association between retirement age and depressive symptoms measured using the CES-D.
Participants who retired at age < 50 years had significantly higher CES-D scores (β = 1.764, P = 0.0003) compared to those who retired at age ≥ 70 years. The negative effects of early retirement on depressive symptoms were greater among male participants, heads of households, young involuntary retirees, those who retired within the past 20 years, and those who had no difficulties in activities of daily living.
Since we evaluated the association between retirement age and depressive symptoms in one direction, there is a possibility of reverse causality.
Our findings highlight the importance of managing depressive symptoms in early retirees, especially young involuntary retirees and those burdened with family care.
韩国的实际退休年龄高于经济合作与发展组织（经合组织）国家的平均水平。与西方国家相比，亚洲的提前退休可能对心理健康产生不同的影响。因此，我们研究了韩国退休人员的退休年龄与抑郁症状之间的关联。
我们使用了2011年、2013年、2015年、2017年和2019年韩国退休与收入面板研究的数据，各年份分别共有2998名、3152名、3203名、3154名和3055名参与者。我们排除了年龄小于50岁的人、未退休者、没有关于流行病学研究中心抑郁量表（CES-D）信息的人以及有其他缺失值的人。我们使用广义估计方程模型来确定退休年龄与使用CES-D测量的抑郁症状之间的关联。
与在70岁及以上退休的人相比，在50岁之前退休的参与者的CES-D得分显著更高（β = 1.764，P = 0.0003）。提前退休对抑郁症状的负面影响在男性参与者、户主、年轻的非自愿退休者、在过去20年内退休的人以及日常生活活动没有困难的人中更大。
由于我们从一个方向评估了退休年龄与抑郁症状之间的关联，所以存在反向因果关系的可能性。
我们的研究结果强调了管理提前退休者，特别是年轻的非自愿退休者和承担家庭照顾负担者的抑郁症状的重要性。
