Retirement raises depression risk but glass of wine may help
LOS ANGELES: People who retire have a higher risk of depression than those who keep working, but the odd glass of wine may help boost their mood, a study suggests.
Previous research had indicated that people tend to drink more around the time of retirement, with baby boomers, now aged between about 60 and 80, also consuming more alcohol than earlier generations.
The new research, published at the same as a separate study uncovers new links between depression and DNA, looked at whether there were links between working status, alcohol consumption and signs of depression.
The study tracked 27,500 Americans, all of whom were over 50, for an average of 14 years each. Every two years they were asked to fill in questionnaires to describe aspects of their lifestyles and to give a snapshot of their mood during the previous week. People who had retired showed more signs of depression — such as regularly feeling sad or finding “everything is an effort” — than those who were still working or who were only semi-retired.
The participants were also asked whether they consumed alcohol and, if they did, how many drinks they had on days when they drank. Heavy drinking — defined as people who binged, having four to five drinks in a couple of hours — was linked to worse depressive symptoms. However, those who drank in moderation — counted as two drinks or less in a day for men and one or less for women — were less likely to show signs of low mood than teetotallers who abstained completely.
This kind of observational study can not prove cause and effect as the researchers cannot be sure why moderate drinking was associated with fewer depressive symptoms. However, they suspect that the link might be explained by people socialising more.
This does not mean that the researchers were willing to advocate regularly having a drink or two to adjust to retirement. The World Health Organisation has previously warned that no amount of alcohol is beneficial, they noted.
“Drinking alcohol increases the risk of falls and other injuries and can lead to dependency and the poor health that typically comes with it,” said Dr Antonia Díaz-Valdés, of Mayor University in Santiago, Chile, who led the research. “There is no doubt that adjusting to retirement can be difficult for some but turning to alcohol is not the answer. We must find — and provide — healthier alternatives.”
The differences in depression scores were modest but statistically significant. In each two-yearly questionnaire the participants were asked to reflect on the past week and indicated if certain feelings were true for them much of the time, such as whether they had enjoyed life or felt as if they “could not get going”. They were given a total score ranging from zero to eight, with higher scores signalling increased depressive symptoms.
Retirement was associated with a 0.04-point increase in those symptoms. Moderate alcohol use was associated with a 0.09-point decrease, while binge-drinking was associated with a 0.07-point increase in depressive symptoms, compared with abstainers.
The paper, published in the journal Aging & Mental Health, recommends that policymakers should “prioritise providing support to individuals during the retirement transition and offer interventions at various levels to manage alcohol consumption effectively”.
A separate study led by the University of Edinburgh and King’s College London has identified hundreds of new links between the condition and our DNA, raising hopes that new treatments could be on the horizon.
Scientists analysed genetic data from nearly 700,000 people with major depression from 29 countries. Their DNA was compared with that of another 4.3 million healthy participants, who acted as controls.
The study found nearly 700 genetic code variations that appear to contribute to the disease, almost half of which were new.
The findings suggests that two drugs called pregabalin and modafinil — currently mostly used to treat chronic pain and the sleeping condition narcolepsy, respectively — could potentially be repurposed.
The findings have been published in the journal Cell.