Prevalence and individual and work-related factors associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviours among veterinarians in Norway: a cross-sectional, nationwide survey-based study (the NORVET study)

OBJECTIVES: Several studies have shown increased suicide rates among veterinarians. We investigated the self-reported prevalence of suicidal thoughts and behaviours and contributing and independent factors associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviours among veterinarians in Norway. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, nationwide survey. PARTICIPANTS: 2596 veterinarians in Norway (response rate: 75%). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Paykel’s five-item questionnaire. RESULTS: In total, 27% (n=682/2567) of veterinarians in Norway felt that life was not worth living during the last year, 5% (n=139/2562) had serious suicidal thoughts, and 0.2% (n=6/2537) had attempted suicide. Female veterinarians reported significantly higher prevalence of suicidal feelings and thoughts than males. For serious suicidal thoughts, women had nearly twice the prevalence as their male colleagues (6.2% (n=108/1754) vs 3.6% (n=28/766), χ(2): 6.5, p=0.011). Independent factors associated with serious suicidal thoughts were being single (OR 1.76, 95% CI 1.13 to 2.72, p<0.05), negative life events (OR=1.43, 95% CI 1.22 to 1.68, p<0.001) and the presence of mental distress (OR 2.75, 95% CI 2.14 to 3.52, p<0.001). The veterinarians related their serious suicidal thoughts to work and personal problems, and a lesser degree to family, social and other problems. Nearly twice as many women (53%, n=57/108) as men (28%, n=7/25) reported work problems as the most important contributing factor to their serious suicidal thoughts (χ(2): 4.99, p=0.03). 4% (n=6/139) reported work problems as the only factor of importance. CONCLUSIONS: Veterinarians in Norway have relatively high prevalence of suicidal feelings and thoughts, including serious suicidal thoughts. In multivariable analyses, the individual factors were more important than work-related ones, while work problems were the most reported contributing factor to serious suicidal thoughts by the veterinarians themselves. The role of gender and specific work-related factors should be further investigated to better understand the complexity of suicidal behaviour among veterinarians.