Table 5—
Psychosocial circumstances of death for 177 of the 189 decedents in Table 1 who died by suicide or had death of undetermined intent with information available in NVDRS records.
| Variable | Veterinarians (n = 67) | Veterinary technicians or technologists (n = 74) | Veterinary assistants or laboratory animal caretakers (n = 36) | P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| History of suicide attempt before the fatal incident | 9 (13%)a | 28 (38%)b | 13 (36%)b | 0.003 |
| Suicide intent disclosed to another person | 22 (33%) | 18 (24%) | 10 (28%) | 0.53 |
| Suicide note left | 21 (31%) | 26 (35%) | 13 (36%) | 0.85 |
| Crisis¶ | 20 (30%) | 19 (26%) | 9 (25%) | 0.81 |
| Mental health problem at time of death | 36 (54%) | 44 (60%) | 23 (64%) | 0.58 |
| Mental health or substance abuse treatment ≤ 2 mo prior to death | 23 (34%) | 34 (46%) | 17 (47%) | 0.29 |
| History of mental health or substance abuse treatment (at any time) | 33 (49%) | 41 (55%) | 23 (64%) | 0.36 |
| Depressed mood | 30 (45%) | 27 (37%) | 11 (31%) | 0.33 |
| Alcohol problem | 11 (16%) | 13 (18%) | 12 (33%) | 0.09 |
| Other substance abuse | 9 (13%) | 18 (24%) | 12 (33%) | 0.06 |
| Intimate partner problem | 16 (24%) | 24 (32%) | 10 (28%) | 0.53 |
| Family relationship (other than intimate partner) problem | — | — | 0 (0%) | 0.34 |
| Other relationship problem | 6 (9%) | — | — | 0.67 |
| Contributing criminal legal problem | 5 (8%) | 6 (8%) | — | 0.56 |
| Contributing civil legal problem | — | — | — | 0.51 |
| Contributing physical health problem | 16 (24%) | 9 (12%) | — | 0.11 |
| Contributing job problem | 14 (21%) | 16 (22%) | — | 0.09 |
| Contributing financial problem | 10 (15%) | 5 (7%) | — | 0.26 |
| Death of friend or family member | 8 (12%) | — | — | 0.10 |
Definitions of the described circumstances and criteria for evidence to include the related codes in NVDRS records are described in detail elsewhere.24 Variables were recorded as present vs unknown or not present. Some decedents had multiple circumstances of death on record.
Includes only acute events that were imminent at the time of death or had occurred up to 2 weeks earlier; a single code was used from 2003 through 2012, and separate codes were used to additionally specify types of crisis events beginning in 2013; a code applied to any crisis was used for the latter year so that the data were comparable for analysis purposes.
See Table 1 for remainder of key.