Veterinarians are more likely to take their own lives than other Americans, an alarming data gathered for over three decades reveal.
Animal doctors have higher risk of suicide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, citing devastation from debts and accessibility to lethal medicines as the reasons for this. The study, conducted by the health agency and was published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, analyzed over 11,600 records of veterinarians who died from 1979 to 2015.
Suicide Deaths
Nearly 400 of the death cases were attributed to suicide. Of this number, there were more male veterinarians who took their own life, totaling 326, as opposed to females, 72. The men's figures therefore account for about 82 percent of the cases, which translates to 4.6:1 ratio.
However, the group found that female vets were 3.5 times more likely to die of suicide than the general population, while for males, 2.1. According to the study, veterinarians suffer depression from the chunk of student loans as that of physicians, but unlike the latter, animal doctors tend to earn less per year.
"[L]ong work hours, work overload, practice management responsibilities, client expectations and complaints, euthanasia procedures, and poor work-life balance," are some of the factors affecting the high rate of suicide among vets, the study further pointed out.
Guns, Euthanizing Drugs Used For Suicide
Of the number of vets that died of suicide, 37 percent used lethal drugs that are used to euthanized animals such as dogs and cats, two-thirds of this number was female. However, majority of the cases, mostly men, used a gun to take their own lives.
Doctors have long been facing high suicide risks because of their work. Although there is no specified cause experts have agreed on, the study sheds light on the alarming issue in this profession.
"Using this knowledge, we can work together to reduce the number of suicides among veterinarians," Robert Redfield, CDC director, said.
