The effect of retirement on health biomarkers

•This paper analyzes the effect of retirement on health biomarkers using the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.•Most effects of retirement on health biomarkers are statistically insignificant, but some biomarkers improve while others deteriorate.•This contrasts with consistent improvements found in self-reported measures from the same dataset. We utilize panel data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing to investigate the impact of retirement on objective health measures. In contrast to many previous studies, which focus on subjective self-reported health and life satisfaction measures, we focus on objective health biomarkers, such as diabetes indicators and cholesterol. Because poor health can induce retirement, we instrument for retirement using eligibility for state and employer sponsored pensions. Overall, there are few significant impacts of retirement on health biomarkers. The direction of effects is also mixed. Some biomarkers improve upon retirement, while others deteriorate. This contrasts with the consistently positive and significant improvements that are found in self-reported measures from the same dataset.