Suicide Mortality Among Agricultural Workers in a Region With Intensive Tobacco Farming and Use of Pesticides in Brazil

Abstract

Objective

To investigate whether suicide risk among agricultural workers is higher in regions with heavier pesticide use and/or presence of tobacco farming.

Methods

Suicide mortality data were gathered from residents of the Brazilian state of Alagoas. Agricultural census data were used to arrange and classify Alagoas cities into distribution groups on the basis of variables concerning pesticide use and/or tobacco farming. Mortality odds ratio calculations were then used to compare suicide risk among agricultural and nonagricultural workers in different groups.

Results

Suicide risk was higher among agricultural workers than among nonagricultural workers, elevated in regions that used more pesticides, and greatest in regions that produced more tobacco.

Conclusions

This is one of the first studies of its kind to suggest that combined effects of pesticide and tobacco exposure may be linked to higher suicide risk among agricultural workers.