Telework linked to lower depressive-symptom scores in older Chinese workers

Researchers analyzed China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study data from 2018 and 2020, comparing middle-aged and older employed nonagricultural workers who did and did not telework during the pandemic. The cognition analysis included 4,184 participants, including 270 teleworkers; the depressive-symptom analysis included 4,262, including 278 teleworkers. Models adjusted for baseline outcomes and measured differences between groups using propensity-score overlap weighting.

Telework was associated with a higher cognition score (β=0.278 on a 0–10 scale; 95% CI, 0.040 to 0.515) and a lower CES-D-10 depressive-symptom score (β=−0.792 on a 0–30 scale; 95% CI, −1.317 to −0.266). The depressive-symptom association remained negative in sensitivity analyses. The cognition estimate was smaller and statistically uncertain when analyses were restricted to communities with both teleworkers and nonteleworkers. No evidence supported differences by sex. The observational findings do not establish that telework caused these outcomes, and the cognition result was less consistent across analyses.