Suicide and Drug Overdose Mortality Among Washington State Workers: A Stratified Analysis by Industry, Occupation,...

Even with the rise in concern over suicide and drug overdose mortality in the United States, gaps in research on at-risk populations still exist. The purpose of this study was to investigate disparities in suicide and drug overdose mortality risk among Washington State workers. Using 2014-2023 Washington State death records and American Community Survey (ACS) data, we calculated rates of suicide and drug overdose mortality by usual industry and occupation while adjusting for age and stratifying by sex and race/ethnicity. We compared the mortality risk among workers in specific industries and occupations to all workers within the same sex and race/ethnicity strata to understand how work differentially affects risk. Working in Construction & Extraction occupations was associated with an increased risk for suicide and drug overdose death for males across all race/ethnicity categories and for drug overdose death among White females. The suicide risk for Asian/Pacific Islander males had the largest increase-Asian/Pacific Islander males working in Construction & Extraction occupations had a rate 4.59 times higher than all Asian/Pacific Islander male workers. The Education, Training, & Library occupation group had significantly lower crude rates and rate ratios. Although the causal pathways that may lead someone to die by suicide or drug overdose are complex, understanding risk profiles among different industries and occupations may lead to more appropriate prevention strategies.