CDC retracts widely cited study on farmer suicide rates

According to the federal agency behind this study, widely quoted studies on various occupational suicide rates in the United States were canceled as they may contain data on fatal flaws .

The Centers for Disease Control and Preparedness prepared the 2016 study to show that the "Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry" occupation group had a higher suicide rate than any other occupation. CBS news coverage about this research (and this week's story) and also covers many other media, including NPR, New York Post, Guardian and Jones Mother.

But this week the Disease Control and Prevention Center ceased research and issued a notification about errors found in the initial data. The agency's spokesman stated that this mistake erroneously classified farmers as a mistaken work group and underestimates suicide rate in agriculture, fishery, forestry, and underestimation of suicide rates in other occupations It was.

Prior to the evacuation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the new Food Economics Department questioned the data and stated that the categories of 'agriculture, fishery and forestry' excluded farmers and ranchers classified as administrators .

The actual ranking of occupations is uncertain until CDC completes data analysis. Another spokesperson from the agency said, "This may be completely different, or the conclusion may be the same, I do not know yet."

"Farm suicide is often reported as an accident," said Jennifer Phi, director of public relations for Farm Aid.

The 2016 CDC survey is the latest survey considering occupational suicide, but it is far from perfect: it includes 17 states and overlooks some large agricultural states like Iowa.

The number of suicide rates of farmers today is still unknown. In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped widely cited research, pointing out that suicide rates of farmers were high. However, according to other CDC studies suicide is more common in rural areas than urban areas. Between 1990 and 2016, the suicide rate rose in almost every state and it was the largest increase in the Western province. The relationship between farm failure and suicide has been confirmed outside the United States where thousands of farmers died of suicide in recent years.

When reporting the extent of the problem, in most cases, we rely on data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) 2012. This is a classification of suicide rates in the US by occupation. Compared to all other industries, the proportion of people engaged in "agriculture, fishery and forestry" is the highest, 84.5 per 100,000 people. This figure is more than five times higher than the whole country and can be compared with the high suicide rate of military veterans. Recent data do not exist, but the anecdotal evidence pointed out by farmers and supporters indicates that the suicide rate of farmers is rising. Last spring, National Farmers Union (NFU) launched an online resource called "Farm Crisis Center". , Government official of NFU, Matu Perdue

Kansas Manhattan - American farmers may have a higher suicide rate than veterans. Comparing these numbers from two separate studies on two different entities is not definitive, but the emerging trends should be alarming. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, individuals in the vocational group of agriculture, fishery and forestry are more likely to commit suicide than anyone else. The suicide rate of farmers is 84.5 out of 100,000 people who died in suicide. The death toll of the most vulnerable veterans (18-29 years old) is 85.64 people per 100,000 people and the overall mortality rate is 35.3 people per 100,000 people.