Living with an adult with depressive symptoms is linked to substantially lower average yearly income and employment rates as well as reduced quality of life for adults who do not have depressive symptoms, a study in the Journal of Affective Disorders has found.
“These findings indicate that the impact of depressive symptoms may extend beyond the affected individuals, imposing a burden on other adults in their households,” wrote Paul Greenberg, M.S., M.A., of the Analysis Group, an economics consulting firm in Boston. “This further supports the value of adequate treatment to address depressive symptoms for adults and reduce the spillover effect to others in their households.”
Greenberg and colleagues analyzed data from The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component (MEPS-HC), which collects data on demographics, health conditions, health status, use of health care services, income, and employment for each person in a household. As part of MEPS-HC, adults also complete a self-administered questionnaire that contains the 2-item Patient Health Questionnaire. Data on quality of life were obtained from Short-Form 12 version 2 (SF-12v2), a survey which assesses mental and physical health. The researchers identified 1,699 adults without depressive symptoms living in a household with other adults who had depressive symptoms and 15,286 adults without depressive symptoms living in a household where no other adults had depressive symptoms between 2015 and 2019.
Adults without depressive symptoms who lived with adults with depressive symptoms earned $4,720 less in total annual income (representing 11.3% lower than the average income of $41,634 in MEPS), were less likely to be employed, and missed more workdays per year than their peers who lived with adults without depressive symptoms.
Adults without depressive symptoms who lived with adults with depressive symptoms also had a lower quality of life than their peers who lived with adults without depressive symptoms, as evidenced by mean scores that were 2.5 points lower on the mental component score and 2.1 points lower on the physical component score on the SF-12v2.
The “findings emphasize the need to ensure patients with depressive symptoms are identified and receive appropriate intervention, as improved management could address the increasing prevalence of depressive disorder and alleviate the burden associated with depressive symptoms on the individual themselves as well as on the members of their household,” the researchers wrote.
For related information, see the Psychiatric Services article “Incremental Health Care Burden of Treatment-Resistant Depression Among Commercial, Medicaid, and Medicare Payers.”
(Image: Getty Images/iStock/fizkes)
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