221332 Exploring race, sex, and age-adjusted rates of suicide across agricultural and construction workers

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Lorann Stallones, MPH, PhD , Colorado Injury Control Research Center, Psychology Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
Emily Nowacki, BA , Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
Peter Y. Chen, PhD , Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
Timothy Doenges, MS , Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
The current study examined suicide rates among agricultural workers and construction workers, in comparison to those of the general population, utilizing the Colorado Violent Death Reporting System (COVDRS) and census data from 2004-2006. The COVDRS database contains individual information for workers who died by suicide (ICD-10 codes X60-X84, U03, Y87.0), including age, sex, and occupation codes for each individual. Results showed that there were high suicide rates among white male construction workers in comparison to the general population (90.1 vs. 67.3 per 100K, 2004-2006), and among white female construction workers in comparison to the general population (45.7 vs. 18.5 per 100K, 2004-2006). Similarly, there were high suicide rates among white male agricultural workers in comparison to the general population (226.0 vs. 67.3 per 100K, 2004-2006), and among white female agricultural workers in comparison to the general population (37.4 vs. 18.5 per 100K, 2004-2006). The current study also reviews the suicide rates across the two occupations and examined suicide rate broken down by age, sex, and race.

Learning Areas:
Epidemiology
Occupational health and safety

Learning Objectives:
The purpose of the current study is to raise awareness of potentially high-risk occupations for suicide, including agricultural and construction workers. Furthermore, the study also develops a clearer picture of suicide rates among these occupational groups broken down by examined age, race, and sex.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am an epidemiologist who has studied occupational suicide for more than 20 years.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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