SynthesisOccupational and environmental medicine2025
Mental health effects of unemployment and re-employment: a systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.
Synthesis in Occupational and environmental medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Pre-existing financial circumstance, job loss, and probable depression among U.S. adults: a prospective population-based cohort study.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2026Article
- Generational variation and life‑course accumulation of social inequalities in all-cause mortality in Germany: a cohort-sequential study.International journal for equity in health · 2026Article
- Anxiety disorders: a cross-sectional study of clinical and biological associations.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2026Article
- Gig work dependence and psychological distress in chronic illness.SSM - population health · 2026Article
- Suicidal Distress and Daily Well-Being: A New Model of Social Hysteresis.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Connect to work programme in Greater Essex: evaluation framework and study protocol.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Large-Scale Brain Networks Track Gasoline Price Shifts.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This systematic review examined the impact of unemployment and re-employment on mental health problems (depression, anxiety and psychological distress) among working-age adults. We searched MEDLINE, Embase, APA PsycINFO and Web of Science (January 2012-March 2024) and included studies from a prior meta-analysis (1990-2012). Risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. We conducted random-effects meta-analyses and narrative synthesis and evaluated the certainty of evidence using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE). Of 9328 search records, 38 prospective longitudinal studies met the inclusion criteria (27 from 2012-2024 and 11 from 1990-2012). A pooled standardised mean difference (SMD, Cohen's d) of 0.19 (95% CI 0.08 to 0.30, I²=88.7%) indicated increased symptom levels among the unemployed compared with those regularly employed. Similarly, pooled effect estimates indicated reduced symptoms after re-employment, with a stronger effect observed in between-group difference-in-difference analyses (SMD=-0.27, 95% CI -0.35 to -0.20, I²=40.1%) than within-group analyses (SMD=-0.19, 95% CI -0.29 to -0.10, I²=84.3%). The certainty of evidence for all outcomes based on our GRADE evaluation was low. Our systematic review and meta-analysis suggest that unemployment increases the risk of mental health problems, while re-employment may reduce this risk. However, due to the lack of high-certainty evidence, further longitudinal studies with multiple follow-ups are needed to strengthen causal inferences and better clarify mental health trajectories before and after re-employment.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.