Suicide rates among pharmacists are higher than the US average, a study by Northeastern University has revealed.
Researchers found that “the increased suicide risk for all pharmacists was 21%”, and that the risk of suicide varied between genders and pharmacy roles.
Male pharmacists were found to be “25% more likely than other men to die by suicide”, the study said, while female pharmacy technicians were found to be “22% more likely to end their lives” than the average woman.
Female pharmacists did “not have a higher risk than females in general”, it added, and pharmacy technicians had “a lower suicide risk than the general population” overall - but this was “driven by lower rates among men”.
Read more: Pharmacists take men’s suicide risk more seriously, study finds
The researchers used the National Violent Death Reporting System to search for deaths by suicide across the pharmacy profession and general population in the US from 2011 to 2022.
They found that while pharmacists and pharmacy technicians “work side by side”, death certificates, law enforcement reports and coroner reports “noted different explanations for the emotional or psychological status of the two groups prior to their deaths by suicide”.
And the higher suicide rates “were occurring well before the Covid pandemic started in 2020”, they noted.
“Forgotten group”
Northeastern University’s dean of nursing Amanda Choflet, who co-authored the study, said “the truth is we don’t know the ‘why’”.
“What we need to do next is look into workplace stressors and mental health problems and create work environments where people feel safe and comfortable asking for help when they need it,” she added.
Choflet said pharmacists “are more likely to report job problems”, and pharmacy technicians “are more likely to have reported mental health problems” including previous suicide attempts.
Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are “a little bit of a forgotten group”, she added, and “don’t necessarily get as much recognition” as other healthcare professionals for their work “and for the emotional labor that they’re carrying with them”.
Read more: LPC chiefs: Pharmacies should be mental health ‘first point of care’
“There’s not a single item that’s going to fix it all,” Choflet said, but helpful measures include “protected mental health days and paid time-off schedules that actually facilitate a positive work-life balance”.
“They should be a part of a reasonable work expectation,” she added. “The people who are powering the health care system are the most important part of the health care system.”
Read more: RPS launches first-ever wellbeing survey for pharmacy students
It comes after a study published last month revealed that pharmacists in Australia are more likely to take men more seriously when they are perceived to be at risk of suicide.
Pharmacists were found to respond to male patients less “emotionally” but were “more likely to take the issue seriously”, while they “felt empathy for female patients expressing suicidality” but “went on to offer them a mix of both helpful and harmful support”.
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