title: Relationship between mental health disorders and unemployment status in Australian adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the prevalence of anxiety and affective disorders among employed and unemployed patients and to compare the type of treatment received between the two groups for these disorders.
  
  
  METHODS
  A secondary analysis of the 1997 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing of Adults cross-sectional study was undertaken.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Unemployed adults were more likely to have symptoms of anxiety (OR = 3.09, 95% CI = 2.80-3.41) or an affective disorder (OR = 2.11, 95% CI = 1.95-2.27) or anxiety and/or affective disorders (OR = 2.53, 95% CI = 2.37-2.69). Unemployed participants with symptoms were less likely to have seen a general practitioner for treatment but when they did they received similar care to employed participants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results confirm studies reported elsewhere that the prevalence of symptoms of anxiety and/or affective disorders is higher for unemployed people. The data provide further evidence that people with an anxiety and/or affective disorder who are unemployed are not seeking medical treatment. However, unlike previous research undertaken by our group, these results indicate that symptomatic adults who seek help receive comparable treatment in general practice irrespective of their employment status.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Equity, Training, Research, and Evaluation, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2170, Australia. E.Comino@unsw.edu.au
authors.forename: Elizabeth J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Comino
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Tien
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chey
authors.forename: Vijaya
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Manicavasagar
authors.forename: Jonine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Penrose Wall
authors.forename: Gawaine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Powell Davies
authors.forename: Mark F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011570:Psychiatry; D014478:Unemployment / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000078329:Workforce