Table 3—

Death and death-related injury variables for the 189 decedents in Table 1.

Variable	Veterinarians (n = 73)	Veterinary technicians or technologists (n = 77)	Veterinary assistants or laboratory animal caretakers (n = 39)	P value
Manner of death				0.008
Suicide	—a	59 (77%)b	31 (80%)b
Undetermined intent	—a	18 (23%)b	8 (21%)b
Alcohol use suspected in hours prior to death†				0.73
Yes	17 (23%)	19 (25%)	12 (31%)
No	40 (55%)	46 (60%)	19 (49%)
Unknown or not recorded	16 (22%)	12 (16%)	8 (21%)
Decedent seen in emergency department‡				0.90
Yes	6 (8%)	10 (13%)	5 (13%)
No	39 (53%)	38 (49%)	20 (51%)
Unknown or not recorded	28 (38%)	29 (38%)	14 (36%)
Injury occurred at decedent’s residence				0.20
Yes	56 (77%)	55 (71%)	23 (59%)
No	—	—	—
Unknown or not recorded	—	—	—
Injury occurred at work				0.23
Yes	—	—	—
No	60 (82%)	70 (91%)	36 (92%)
Unknown or not recorded	—	—	—
Mechanism of death§
Poisoning	34 (47%)	38 (49%)	14 (36%)	0.38
Pentobarbital	18 (25%)a	5 (7%)b	—b	< 0.001
Opioid	—a	16 (21%)b	5 (13%)ab	0.009
Firearm injury	29 (40%)	20 (26%)	9 (23%)	0.10
Hanging, strangulation, or suffocation	7 (10%)	—	9 (23%)	0.10
Other single mechanism ‖ or unknown	—a,b	—b	—a	0.02

Criteria for evidence to include codes for specific death and injury-related variables in NVDRS records are described in detail elsewhere.²⁴

^†Recorded on the basis of evidence at the scene, witness reports, or both (distinct from toxicological findings).

^‡Recorded as yes for any individual who arrived at the emergency department of a human medical facility, whether alive or dead on arrival.

^§Three decedents each had 2 mechanisms of death listed.

^‖Examples of other mechanisms included blunt force trauma or drowning.

See Table 1 for remainder of key.