Highlight: Monitoring Suicide Mortality Among Farming Operators: Initial Findings

An increased risk of death by suicide among agricultural workers has been highlighted in several French and international studies. The French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS) recently published the results of the first analysis of suicide mortality based on comprehensive national data among active farmers. This study shows that suicide is the third leading cause of death among active farmers. The study population comprises approximately 500,000 people annually, of whom 68% are men and 32% are women. During the three-year study period (2007 to 2009), 2,769 deaths were recorded among men and 997 among women. Among these deaths, 417 suicides among men (130, 146, and 141 in 2007, 2008, and 2009, respectively) and 68 among women (19, 27, and 22 in 2007, 2008, and 2009) were recorded. Furthermore, a significant excess of suicides was observed among male farmers starting in 2008, compared to the general population of the same age. This excess mortality by suicide was 28% in 2008 and 22% in 2009. The excess is particularly marked among men aged 45 to 64, and more specifically in the dairy and beef cattle sectors, which had the highest rates of excess mortality by suicide in 2008 and 2009. These findings coincide with the timing of the financial difficulties experienced in these sectors during the study period.