The Institute for Public Health Surveillance publishes the results of the first analysis of mortality by suicide among active farmers. In three years, 485 farmers died.
After cancer and cardiovascular disease, suicides are the third leading cause of death among active farmers. This is the observation made by the Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS), which publishes this Thursday the results of the first analysis of mortality by suicide on national data collected in this population. This unprecedented study is part of the suicide prevention plan in the agricultural world, announced by the Ministry of Agriculture in March 2011 and whose implementation was entrusted to the Mutualité sociale agricole (MSA).
485 farmer suicides in three years
The population studied is made up of heads of farms and their collaborating spouses, in professional activity for at least one of the three years of study: 2007, 2008 or 2009. On average, this represents around 500,000 people each year, including 68 % of men and 32% of women.
During the three years studied, 2,769 deaths were observed in men and 997 in women. Among these deaths, 417 suicides among men and 68 among women were recorded.
Farmers and cattle breeding sectors are the most affected
A significant excess of suicides was observed among male farm operators from 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 in men between 45 and 64 years old and more particularly in the cattle-milk and beef-cattle sectors which present in 2008 and 2009 the highest excess suicide deaths. “These observations coincide with the temporality of the financial problems encountered in these sectors over the study period,” underlines the InVS.
According to a British study published in the BMJ, the economic crisis since 2008 could be at the origin of an increase in the suicide rate in Europe, North and South America. In 2009, these regions recorded an average increase of 37% in the unemployment rate and a decrease of 3% in the GDP per capita, and a rise of 3.3% in the suicide rate among men.
Farmers also have an increased risk of cancer.
According to scientific data published over the past 30 years listed by Inserm in a report, there seems to be a positive association between occupational exposure to pesticides and certain pathologies in adults.
On the one hand, an increased risk of prostate cancer exists among farmers, workers in pesticide production plants and rural populations (between 12 and 28% depending on the population). On the other hand, “for other cancers, an excess risk of leukemia cannot be ruled out,” said this report unveiled in June.
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