Occupation and suicide: Colorado, 2004-2006

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dik BJ ; Doenges T ; Stallones L ; Valley MA
• Description:
  Background: Occupation has been identified as a risk factor for suicide. Changes in work environments over time suggest occupations at high risk of suicide may also change. Therefore, periodic examination of suicide by occupation is warranted. The purpose of this article is to describe suicide rates by occupation, sex, and means used in Colorado for the period 2004-2006. Methods: To provide information useful in designing suicide prevention programs, the methods used in suicide across occupational groups also are examined. Data from the Colorado Violent Death Reporting System (COVDRS) were obtained for suicides that occurred between 2004 and 2006. Denominators to calculate rates by age, sex, and race used are from the 2000 US Census of the Population data. Results: Men had higher suicide rates than women in all occupation categories except computers and mathematics. Among men, those in farming, fishing, and forestry (475.6 per 100,000) had the highest age-adjusted suicide rates. Among women, workers with the highest suicide rates were in construction and extraction (134.3 per 100,000). The examination of lethal means showed that workers in farming, fishing, and forestry had higher rates of suicide by firearms (50.18 per 100,000) compared with other workers. Healthcare practitioners and technicians had the highest rate of suicide by poisoning (14.25 per 100,000). Workers involved in construction and extraction (26.43 per 100,000) had higher rates of suicide by hanging, suffocation, or strangling. Conclusions: Significant differences in means of suicide were seen by occupation, which could guide future suicide prevention interventions that may decrease work-related suicide risks. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Age Factors Agriculture Computers Construction Industry Farmers Forestry Health Personnel Hunting Men Mortality Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Poisoning Race Factors Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Sex Characteristics Women Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Age-factors Agricultural-industry Agricultural-workers Author Keywords: Suicide Rates Construction Construction-industry Construction-workers Fishing-industry Forestry-workers Health-care-personnel High Risk Injury-prevention Mortality-data Mortality-rates Mortality-surveys Occupation Occupational-hazards Occupational-health Occupations Poisons Racial-factors Risk-factors Sex-factors Technical-personnel Traumatic-injuries Work-environment Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices

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• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant ; Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; OSHA Region 8
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  56
• Issue:
  11
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20043223
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2013 Nov; 56(11):1290-1295
• Contact Point Address:
  Lorann Stallones, MPH, PhD, Department of Psychology, Sage 100B, Colorado Injury Control Research, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523
• Email:
  lorann.stallones@colostate.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Performing Organization:
  University of Colorado, Denver
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20070701
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e75b39e00adcd8a6f257d50e2528b078f5c874236c5fb0136288485a7990b54dae4461fd49b82be1b851d01106e1e6205e3160ecd16ebe1e6275cf31b480d95c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195177/cdc_195177_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 334.15 KB ]