Suicide Rates and Risks Across U.S. Industries: A 29-Year Population-Based Survey

Abstract

Objective

Suicide rates in the working-age U.S. population have increased by over 40% in the last two decades. Although suicide may be linked with characteristics of workplaces and their industries, few studies have reported industry-level suicide rates. No study has reported suicide rates by industry using nationally representative data. This study estimates suicide risks across industries in the U.S. working population.

Methods

Industry-level estimates of suicide risks require substantial data; we combined 29 years of U.S. suicide data using the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)-Mortality Linked data from 1986 through 2014, with mortality follow-up through 2015. We conducted survey-weighted Poisson regression analyses to estimate suicide mortality rates and rate ratios across all populations and stratified by gender. All analyses were adjusted first for age, and then for age, employment status, marital status, race/ethnicity, and rurality/urbanicity (demographic-adjusted). Rate ratios compared results for workers in each industry to those for all industries, accounting for the NHIS survey design.

Results

A total of 1,943 suicide deaths were recorded. Age-adjusted suicide rates per 100,000 were highest in the furniture, lumber, and wood industry group (29.3), the fabricated metal industry (26.3), and mining (25.8). Demographic-adjusted rates were higher among men than women in most industries. Demographic-adjusted rate ratios were significantly elevated in the furniture, lumber, and wood industries (Rate Ratio, RR = 1.60, 95% confidence interval, CI = 1.18–2.18); chemicals and allied products (RR = 1.49, 95%CI = 1.04–2.13); and construction (RR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.03–1.41).

Conclusion

Several industries had significantly high suicide rates. Suicide prevention efforts may be particularly useful for workers in those industries.

Keywords:

• Construction
• furniture industry
• industries
• nHIS
• suicide

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

DATA AVAILABILITY

The data are not publicly available and were acquired through special arrangements with the National Center for Health Statistics and Census Bureau.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under cooperative agreement # U1CRH30041. The information, conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors and no endorsement by FORHP, HRSA, HHS, or the University of Kentucky or the University of North Carolina at Charlotte is intended or should be inferred.

Notes on contributors

Ahmed A. Arif

Ahmed A. Arif, MBBS, PhD, Oluwaseun Adeyemi, Sarah B. Laditka, and James N. Laditka, Department of Public Health Sciences, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA.

Oluwaseun Adeyemi

Ahmed A. Arif, MBBS, PhD, Oluwaseun Adeyemi, Sarah B. Laditka, and James N. Laditka, Department of Public Health Sciences, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA.

Sarah B. Laditka

Ahmed A. Arif, MBBS, PhD, Oluwaseun Adeyemi, Sarah B. Laditka, and James N. Laditka, Department of Public Health Sciences, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA.

James N. Laditka

Ahmed A. Arif, MBBS, PhD, Oluwaseun Adeyemi, Sarah B. Laditka, and James N. Laditka, Department of Public Health Sciences, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA.