TY - JOUR T1 - Negative wealth shock and short-term changes in depressive symptoms and medication adherence among late middle-aged adults. JF - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health Y1 - 2017 A1 - Lindsay R Pool A1 - Belinda L Needham A1 - Sarah A. Burgard A1 - Michael R. Elliott A1 - Carlos F. Mendes de Leon KW - Depressive symptoms KW - Middle age KW - Prescription Medication KW - Wealth Shocks AB -

BACKGROUND: Experiencing a negative wealth shock in late middle age may cause high levels of stress and induce reductions in health-related consumption.

METHODS: We used data on late middle age individuals (51-64 years) from the longitudinal US-based Health and Retirement Study (N=19 281) to examine the relationship between negative wealth shock and short-term outcomes that serve as markers of the pathways from wealth shock to health: elevated depressive symptoms, as a marker of the stress pathway and cost-related medication non-adherence (CRN), as a marker of the consumption pathway. Negative wealth shock was considered to be a loss of total net worth of 75% or more.

RESULTS: Using a nested cross-over approach-a within-person design among exposed individuals only that adjusts by design for all time-invariant individual characteristics-we found that negative wealth shock was significantly associated with increased odds of elevated depressive symptoms (OR=1.50, CI 1.10 to 2.05), but was not significantly associated with higher odds of CRN (OR=1.18, CI 0.76 to 1.82), even after further adjustment for time-varying sociodemographic and health covariates.

CONCLUSIONS: Negative wealth shock during late middle age confers an increased risk of elevated depressive symptoms, but does not change levels of CRN. Personal and policy factors that may buffer the mental health risks of negative wealth shock, such as social support and social welfare policy, should be considered.

VL - 71 IS - 8 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28416571?dopt=Abstract ER -