Mental health disorder more likely in the least wealthy people later in life: Study

People from the poorest backgrounds are far more likely to develop a mental disorder later in life than those from wealthier beginnings, suggests a recent study. In addition, more than half of people with a low educational attainment at age 30 will have a diagnosis of a mental disorder 22 years later, according to the study of people in Finland.

A team of researchers from Finland analysed official national data on more than 1.2 million of the population born between 1966 and 1986 who were living in Finland when they turned 30. They set out to investigate the association between socioeconomic position at the age of 30 and the subsequent risk of the most common major mental disorders - substance misuse, schizophrenia, mood, and anxiety disorders. The study’s population was followed between 1996 and 2017 and just over a quarter (26.1%) of them (331,657) were diagnosed with a mental disorder during the study’s follow-up period.

The researchers’ analysis showed that lower socioeconomic position at age 30 was consistently associated with a higher risk of being later diagnosed with a mental disorder, even after taking into account shared family characteristics and prior history of a mental disorder.

Analyses of specific diagnoses revealed that the associations were considerably stronger when substance misuse or schizophrenia spectrum disorders were used as an outcome. Compared with people who were employed, being outside the labour force or unemployed were both associated with a twofold risk of a later mental disorder diagnosis, they said.

They also found that, by the age of 52 years, 58% of people who had low educational attainment at the age of 30 were later diagnosed with a mental disorder, compared with 45% and 36% of people who had completed secondary or higher education, respectively.

Reference:

Socioeconomic position at the age of 30 and the later risk of a mental disorder: a nationwide population-based register study doi:10.1136/jech-2022-219674, Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.