ABSTRACT

Physician suicide and well-being are critical issues but studies use varying methodologies and suicide is frequently underreported. This study sought to update data on physician suicides in the United States. The National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) at the Centers for Disease Control collects details about violent deaths. The study used 2010–2015 data from 27 NVDRS states to identify suicide deaths among physicians or non-physicians and calculate annual standardized mortality rates (SMR). Of 63,780 victims total, there were 357 physicians identified over 6 years, (307 men and 50 women). If results are extrapolated to all 50 states, there would be approximately 119 physician suicides annually. The SMR for physicians overall was not statistically different from that of non-physicians. This is the first study in 16 years to update estimated physician suicide rates in the United States. The research used strict criteria to identify physicians so results likely represent the lower boundary of physician suicides. Findings show that physician suicide is not significantly lower than that of non-physicians and emphasizes the importance of focusing on structural changes to reduce stigma around mental health in the medical community.

摘要

医生自杀和幸福感是关键问题，但研究使用不同的方法，自杀经常被低估。本研究旨在更新美国医生自杀的数据。疾病控制中心的国家暴力死亡报告系统 (NVDRS) 收集有关暴力死亡的详细信息。该研究使用来自 27 个 NVDRS 州的 2010-2015 年数据来确定医生或非医生的自杀死亡人数，并计算年度标准化死亡率 (SMR)。在总共 63,780 名受害者中，6 年内确定了 357 名医生（307 名男性和 50 名女性）。如果将结果外推到所有 50 个州，每年将有大约 119 名医生自杀。总体而言，医生的 SMR 与非医生的 SMR 没有统计学差异。这是 16 年来首次更新美国估计的医生自杀率的研究。该研究使用严格的标准来识别医生，因此结果可能代表了医生自杀的下限。调查结果表明，医生自杀率并不明显低于非医生，并强调了关注结构变化以减少医学界对心理健康的污名的重要性。