Department of Ophthalmology, Soonchunhyang University Hospital Cheonan, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, Chenonan, Republic of Korea.
Institute of Health Services Research, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2024 May 2;10:e49129. doi: 10.2196/49129.
As income and health are closely related, retirement is considered undesirable for health. Many studies have shown the association between pension and health, but no research has considered the association between contribution-based public pensions or their types and health.
This study investigates the association between the type of contributory public pension and depressive symptoms among older adults.
We analyzed the data of 4541 older adults who participated in the South Korea Welfare Panel Study (2014-2020). Depressive symptoms were measured using the 11-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale. Public pensions in South Korea are classified into specific corporate pensions and national pensions. For subgroup analyses, pensioners were categorized according to the amount of pension received and the proportion of public pension over gross income. Analyses using generalized estimating equations were conducted for longitudinal data.
Individuals receiving public pension, regardless of the pension type, demonstrated significantly decreased depressive symptoms (national pension: β=-.734; P<.001; specific corporate pension: β=-.775; P=.02). For both pension types, the higher the amount of benefits, the lower were the depression scores. However, this association was absent for those who received the smaller amount among the specific corporate pensioners. In low-income households, the decrease in the depressive symptoms based on the amount of public pension benefits was greater (fourth quartile of national pension: β=-1.472; P<.001; second and third quartiles of specific corporate pension: β=-3.646; P<.001).
Our study shows that contributory public pension is significantly associated with lower depressive symptoms, and this association is prominent in low-income households. Thus, contributory public pensions may be good income sources for improving the mental health of older adults after retirement.
由于收入和健康密切相关，因此退休被认为对健康不利。许多研究表明了养老金与健康之间的关系，但没有研究考虑过缴费型公共养老金或其类型与健康之间的关系。
本研究旨在调查缴费型公共养老金类型与老年人抑郁症状之间的关系。
我们分析了参加韩国福利面板研究（2014-2020 年）的 4541 名老年人的数据。使用 11 项中心流行病学研究抑郁量表来衡量抑郁症状。韩国的公共养老金分为特定企业养老金和国家养老金。对于亚组分析，根据养老金领取额和公共养老金占总收入的比例对养老金领取者进行分类。使用广义估计方程对纵向数据进行分析。
无论养老金类型如何，领取公共养老金的人抑郁症状明显减轻（国家养老金：β=-.734；P<.001；特定企业养老金：β=-.775；P=.02）。对于这两种类型的养老金，养老金福利金额越高，抑郁评分越低。然而，对于特定企业养老金领取者中领取较小金额的人，这种关联并不存在。在低收入家庭中，基于公共养老金福利金额的抑郁症状减轻程度更大（国家养老金第四四分位数：β=-1.472；P<.001；特定企业养老金第二和第三四分位数：β=-3.646；P<.001）。
我们的研究表明，缴费型公共养老金与较低的抑郁症状显著相关，这种关联在低收入家庭中更为明显。因此，缴费型公共养老金可能是改善老年人退休后心理健康的良好收入来源。
