A nationwide claims cohort followed 735,922 Korean adults diagnosed with depression from 2013 to 2023, classifying them by the intraindividual variability of their annual income change before follow-up. High versus low income volatility was associated with all-cause mortality (HR 1.18, 95% CI 1.16-1.19) and hospitalisation (IRR 1.07), with the mortality association larger in men (HR 1.26) than women (HR 1.12). Hospitalisation rate ratios were highest for blood, endocrine, respiratory and mental disorders, and marginally below unity for cancer.
Why it is interesting: It separates an economic exposure from the diagnosis itself within a depression population, and shows the excess falls on cardiometabolic and respiratory admissions rather than cancer.