Rate of Suicide Among Women Nurses Compared With Women in the General Population Before the COVID-19 Global Pandemic

In this issue of JAMA Psychiatry, Davis et al¹ have identified a population at high risk for suicide that warrants immediate attention. In a large retrospective cohort study of 159 372 suicides from 2007 to 2018 in the United States, sex-specific suicide incidence rates among nurses, physicians, and the general population were estimated using data from the National Violent Death Reporting System and workforce data from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics and Association of American Medical Colleges’ State Physician Workforce Data. Findings indicate that suicide rates among nurses exceed those of people in the general population and that female nurses are at twice the risk for suicide compared with women in the general population.