LATEBREAKER
Mental Health
Area-Level Labour Force Participation and Mood & Anxiety Disorders in Ontario Maria Wong* Maria Wong Roman Pabayo
Background: Over 3.5 million (10%) of Canadians used health services for mood (depression, bipolar, mania, dysthymia) and anxiety (phobia, OCD, panic) disorders. Labour force participation (LFP) rates in regions may be an important socioeconomic determinant for health outcomes. However, the study of whether associations between LFP and health outcomes are heterogenous across socioeconomic groups, such as race or income, is rare. This study aims to address these gaps.
Objective: To examine the association between area-level LFP and mood or anxiety disorders among residents of Ontario aged 12+ years, and 2) to determine whether this association is heterogenous across gender, age, race, and income.
Methods: Data for this study was obtained from Ontario Marginalization Index (with exposure variable for LFP) and Canadian Community Health Survey 2017-2018 (with outcome variables for mood and anxiety disorders). The analytic sample comprised of 33,333 individuals (aged ≥ 12 years) from 34 health regions of Ontario. A weighted multilevel multivariable logistic regression was used. Stratified analyses by gender, race, income, and age were conducted to determine if associations were heterogenous across sociodemographic groups.
Results: There was no association between area-level LFP and mental health diagnoses in the fully adjusted model, nor in the gender-stratified analysis. In race-stratified analysis, a non-significant moderate association was observed between low LFP and mood or anxiety disorders among visible minorities (OR: 1.68, 0.92-3.04). Similarly, in income-stratified analysis, a non-significant moderate association was observed between LFP and mood/anxiety disorders among those with annual household incomes of $80,000+ (OR: 1.26, 0.99-1.61). In age-stratified analysis, there was a significant association between lower LFP and an increased odds for mood or anxiety disorders (OR=1.26, 95% CI:1.27,2.25) among adults aged 25-44.
Conclusion: This study observed the links between LFP and mood/anxiety disorders among those who are racialized, adults aged 25-44, or receive adequate household income.