Suicides among Canadian farm operators

The objective of this epidemiologic study was to describe rates of suicide among male farm operators in Canada and to compare rates with those in the general male population. The data were obtained from the Canadian Farm Operator Cohort (CFOC) database. Outcome measures were age-specific and age-standardized rates of completed suicide (ICD-9-CM E-codes 950-959). A total of 1,457 cases of suicide were identified from the CFOC for the years 1971- 1987. Age-standardized rates of suicide for those aged 30-69 were 29.2 (95% CI = 27.3-31.1) per 100,000 person-years (PYs) in the CFOC, 24. 0 (95% CI = 22.1-25.8) per 100,000 PYs in the CFOC excluding Quebec (which had data linkage concerns) and 27.0 (95% CI = 26.6-27.3) per 100,000 PYs among Canadian males in general. Age-specific rates of suicide in the CFOC increased over time. After adjustment for age differences, provincial suicide rates among farm operators were generally lower than or equivalent to those observed in the comparison populations of Canadian males. The implications of these results are discussed. We speculate that high levels of social support traditionally available in Canadian farm communities may protect farm operators from abnormally high rates of suicide.