Income and education predict elevated depressive symptoms in the general population: results from the Gutenberg health study

Table 3 Prediction of depressive symptoms at the 2.5 year follow-up (T1) by the SES indicator education

	Complete sample (T0)		persons without elevated depressive symptoms at T0		persons with elevated depressive symptoms at T0
	PHQ-2 ≥ 2 at T1 (2898/12484)		PHQ-2 ≥ 2 at T1 (1455/9605)		PHQ-2 ≥ 2 at T1 (1443/2879)
	Adj. OR (95% CI)	p	Adj. OR (95% CI)	p	Adj. OR (95% CI)	p
Education
Model 1
(A) only
Education (range 1–7)	0.95 (0.93–0.97)	< 0.0001	0.95 (0.92–0.98)	< 0.0001	0.98 (0.94–1.01)	0.230
(B) with three dimensions
Education (range 1–7)	0.99 (0.96–1.01)	0.269	0.98 (0.95–1.02)	0.300	0.98 (0.94–1.03)	0.432
Model 2
(A) only
Education (range 1–7)	0.95 (0.93–0.97)	< 0.0001	0.94 (0.91–0.97)	< 0.0001	0.97 (0.93–1.01)	0.093
(B) with three dimensions
Education (range 1–7)	0.97 (0.94–0.99)	0.015	0.96 (0.93–0.99)	0.036	0.97 (0.93–1.02)	0.206

Model 1 adjusted for sex, age, living with partner and major medical diseases³
Model 2 adjusted for sex, age, living with partner, major medical diseases³, PHQ-2 (T0), MH² of depressive disorder, GAD-2 (T0) and MH² of anxiety disorder
A: included only the respective SES dimension, e.g. education; B: included all three SES dimensions concurrently as predictor variables
²MH Medical history
³Major medical diseases = any of the following diseases: CVD Cancer, diabetes, COPD Asthma
*boldface indicates p < 0.5 for odds ratios

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