PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- A U.S. study warns many workers with unrecognized and untreated depression may be retiring early.
The study, published in Health Services Research, found men in late middle age with depressive symptoms and women with even sub-threshold symptoms, are more likely to leave the labor force early.
"If people retire early as a result of depression, in addition to the financial hardship resulting from loss of income, it potentially may have a far-reaching detrimental effect on the health of older workers unable to obtain health insurance," said lead researcher Jalpa Doshi of the University of Pennsylvania. "There could be a downward health trajectory."
Doshi was surprised her findings in the United States -- where there is increasingly less guarantee of post-retirement income and healthcare -- were similar to an earlier study in Finland, a country with a post-retirement safety net.
"The burden presented by depression, may be higher than we thought," Doshi said.
The researchers looked at the Health and Retirement Study, a long-term study looking at mental health and labor-force status every two years between l994 and 2002 of nearly 3,000 adults in 48 states between the ages of 53 and 58.
