Pharmacists at Higher Risk of Suicide than General Population

The pandemic put a spotlight on mental health and burnout within health care professions, but emerging research reveals these issues have been affecting health care workers for years, with suicide rates notably high among physicians and nurses. But until now, less was known about the mental health of pharmacists. In the first study to report pharmacist suicide rates in the United States, researchers from Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California and UC San Diego School of Medicine found that suicide rates are higher among pharmacists compared to the general population, at an approximate rate of 20 per 100,000 pharmacists compared to 12 per 100,000 in the general population. Results of the longitudinal study published May 13, 2022 in Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. The figures are based on data from 2003 through 2018, collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Violent Death Reporting System. Study authors expect numbers to be even higher in subsequent years due to the additional stressors of the pandemic, and are currently evaluating more recent data. "If we learned anything from the pandemic, it's that there is a breaking point for health professionals," said corresponding author Kelly C. Lee, PharmD, professor of clinical pharmacy at UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.