Suicide and Types of Agriculture: A Time‐Series Analysis in Japan

Abstract

Objective In recent years, rural areas have reported higher suicide rates than urban areas worldwide. Although agricultural activity is a key characteristic of many rural areas, rurality may also have heterogeneous qualities based on the type of agriculture pursued. However, to date, no study has examined potential linkages between suicide rate and types of agriculture. Method In this study, we used 1983–2007 annual time‐series data of the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of suicide and product‐specific agricultural outputs in Japanese municipalities to shed light on this phenomenon. We conducted a multilevel linear regression analysis, taking into account a hierarchical structure of the time‐series data, limiting our analysis to municipalities where agricultural land use was high. Results Our multilevel analysis showed that the animal husbandry output was positively associated with suicide SMR in both women and men, with a stronger relationship among women, whereas no association was observed in agricultural crop output. Temporal analysis showed that the association could be observed consistently throughout the period between 1983 and 2007. Conclusions This study raises the possibility that the industrial and cultural characteristics of communities that rely on animal husbandry may be associated with an increased risk of suicide.

Factors Associated with Suicidal Behavior in Farmers: A Systematic Review

“…Regarding suicidal behavior, eight studies had suicide as an object of analysis [ 15 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 24 , 27 , 29 , 31 ], and the others analyzed attempted suicides [ 26 ] and suicidal ideation [ 25 , 28 , 30 , 32 ]. Different measures for identifying associated factors were also observed, with bivariate analysis (OR/RR) [ 15 , 20 , 22 , 23 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 29 , 30 ] and correlation coefficients (r, β, α) [ 15 , 24 , 28 , 31 , 32 ], and differences in the types of associated factor analysis techniques.…”

“…Therefore, these studies were considered high risk of bias only with regard to this item. On the other hand, the study by Hanigan, et al [ 22 ], observed a high risk of bias, with only 42% of “yes” answers, as can be seen in Figure 2 [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 30 , 31 , 32 ].…”

“…Regarding the study site, most studies (71%) were conducted in developed countries, and did not investigate regional variables [ 15 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]. High-income countries have higher suicide mortality rates, although the most suicide deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (79%), with a greater concentration of the world population (84%) [ 41 ].…”

Suicide mortality rates in farm‐related occupations and the agriculture industry in the United States

“…Elevated suicide mortality rates were also reported among workers in the agriculture, fishery, and forestry industries in Japan, South Korea, and Europe. [31][32][33] A recent meta-analysis that pooled data from different countries…”

Relationships between management factors in dairy production systems and mental health of farm managers in Japan

“…Contributing factors to the poor mental health of dairy farmers include financial issues, irregular weather conditions owing to climate change, anxiety about the future of the farm, market price of farm products and livestock, tax, medical treatment fees, and lack of family time (Momose et al, 2008;Kearney et al, 2014;Daghagh Yazd et al, 2019). Kanamori and Kondo (2020) reported that suicide rates were higher in areas with active livestock production in Japan; in addition, a stronger correlation was found between livestock production and suicide among men than among women; however, the reasons for the trends are yet to be clarified.…”