SUICIDE MORTALITY RATES AMONG AGRICULTURAL WORKERS IN BRAZIL ARE ASSOCIATED WITH OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL PESTICIDE EXPOSURE

Several studies have reported associations between agricultural work and suicide. However, few have examined the role of pesticides in such an association. This study examines suicide mortality rates among agricultural workers (AW) in the Serrana Region (SR) of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 1996 to 2022, focusing on pesticide exposure, estimated by the pesticide expenditure per worker from the 1996, 2006, and 2017 censuses. For the general population, exposure was estimated by expenditure per cultivated area. Temporal trends were assessed, and suicide odds ratios comparing AW with non-agricultural workers were adjusted for sex, age, race/ethnicity, education, and marital status. Adjusted odds ratios were also calculated across pesticide exposure tertiles for both AW and the general population, using the first tertile as reference. Findings indicated higher suicide rates in the SR between 1997 and 2022, with elevated suicide rates among AW compared to n-AW (OR = 1.41; 95% CI: 1.03–1.94). AW in the highest tertile of pesticide expenditure per agricultural worker had higher odds of suicide (OR 1996 = 2.63; 95% CI: 1.09–6.06; OR 2017 = 2.37; 95% CI: 1.00–5.57) compared to those in the first tertile. A similar pattern was observed for the general population in the highest tertile of pesticide expenditure per cultivated area (OR 2017 = 2.47; 95% CI: 1.19–5.12). AW in the SR of Rio de Janeiro exhibited higher odds of suicide, particularly those in areas with the highest pesticide expenditure per worker and per cultivated area.