Longitudinal associations between changes in employment status and depressive symptoms during the early COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA)

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented and inequitably distributed adverse health impacts, which varied across socioeconomic circumstances. We investigated differences in incident depression among individuals aged 50 years and older according to various employment factors during the early stages of the pandemic. METHODS: We included 16 719 Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging participants who provided data at Follow-up one (2015-2018) (FUP1) and twice during the pandemic (Spring and Autumn 2020). The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD-10) was used to classify individuals with depression (CESD-10 score ≥ 10). Logistic regression, adjusted for possible confounders, estimated the odds of incident depression in Autumn 2020. RESULTS: We found depression scores worsened from pre-pandemic (FUP1) to Autumn 2020; this pattern was evident across different employment features. Individuals who were newly unemployed in Spring 2020 had over double the odds of depression in Autumn 2020 (odds ratio [OR] = 2.22; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.51-3.28) compared to those who remained retired. Higher odds of depression were also observed among those with employment disruptions in Spring 2020 relative to those who did not (OR = 1.65; 95% CI: 1.28-2.12), and individuals primarily working in non-home-based settings in Autumn 2020 had 21% lower odds of depression (OR = 0.79; 95% CI: 0.63-0.98) than those who worked remotely. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that employment status was an important predictor of depression among Canadians during the early phases of the pandemic.