The malaise of the peasants is tangible. In the middle of the Agricultural Show, which takes place from February 23 to March 3 at Porte de Versailles in Paris, Public Health France is publishing this Tuesday February 26 its Weekly epidemiological bulletin (BEH) on the prevalence of depressive symptoms among farmers. The results can only worry. The agricultural world still has a higher level of depression and a higher suicide rate than the general population.
The study involved 2,300 participants from Bouches-du-Rhône, Finistère, Pas-de-Calais, Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Saône-et-Loire. All affiliated to the Mutualité sociale agricole (MSA), they were drawn by lot and had to answer a questionnaire.
Depression, suicide and burnout
It appears that 14.7% of salaried agricultural workers and 21.2% of female workers had symptoms associated with depression. Among the self-employed, these rates were 13.6% for men and 19.1% for women. A prevalence that increased significantly with age in men. By way of comparison, 5.3% of men and 11.4% of women from all backgrounds suffered from a characterized depressive episode in 2017, again according to figures from Public Health France.
In addition, whether employed or self-employed, male or female, the greater the imbalance between effort and reward, the higher the risk of depression. Because indeed, many farmers are still unable to make a decent living from their profession.
Public Health France had already highlighted, in a study covering the years 2007 to 2011the excess suicide mortality among farmers compared to the general population, particularly in cattle breeding sectors (milk and meat). But these were the latest official figures published on the subject. On February 22, separate research carried out by the Chamber of Agriculture of Saône-et-Loirealso showed that one out of three agricultural workers in the department risked burnout.
These alarming results will now be further explored using data from a report called Coset (Cohorts for work-related epidemiological surveillance)-MSA whose recruitment ended in 2018. 27,000 people from the entire hexagon. They will answer the same questionnaire, thus specifying the figures.
Read also :
- Are the farmers healthy?
- Burn-out: it affects more than 3 million French people
