Anxiety and Depression Symptoms Among Farmers: The HUNT Study, Norway
Open accessAbstract
Agriculture has undergone profound changes, and farmers face a wide variety of stressors. Our aim was to study the levels of anxiety and depression symptoms among Norwegian farmers compared with other occupational groups. Working participants in the HUNT3 Survey (The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study, 2006-2008), aged 19-66.9 years, were included in this cross-sectional study. We compared farmers (women, n = 317; men, n = 1,100) with HUNT3 participants working in other occupational groups (women, n = 13,429; men, n = 10,026), classified according to socioeconomic status. We used the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to measure anxiety and depression symptoms. Both male and female farmers had higher levels of depression symptoms than the general working population, but the levels of anxiety symptoms did not differ. The differences in depression symptom levels between farmers and the general working population increased with age. In an age-adjusted logistic regression analysis, the odds ratio (OR) for depression caseness (HADS-D ≥8) when compared with the general working population was 1.49 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.22-1.83) in men and 1.29 (95% CI: 0.85-1.95) in women. Male farmers had a higher OR of depression caseness than any other occupational group (OR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.52-2.49, using higher-grade professionals as reference). Female farmers had an OR similar to men (2.00, 95% CI: 1.26-3.17), but lower than other manual occupations. We found that farmers had high levels of depression symptoms and average levels of anxiety symptoms compared with other occupational groups.
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Symptoms of depression in farmers are associated with a 13% increase in sex-adjusted and age-adjusted mortality.
“symptoms of depression are associated with a 13% increase in sex-adjusted and age-adjusted mortality [4–7].”
From Improving the mental health of farmers: what types of remote support are acceptable, feasible, and improve outcomes? A feasibility RCT (2024) · cites this paper as [5]
The Results (page unavailable) report age-adjusted odds of depression symptoms in farmers compared with other workers, not mortality. Searches for a 13% increase and for mortality or death found no passage assessing the claimed association. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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References 34 · Cited by 96
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Glymour MM Greenland S. Causal Diagrams Modern Epidemiology, third edition (by: Rothman, KJ. Greenland, S. Lash, TL.) Philadelphia, PA Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 2008 183 209
- Authors
- Torske, M. O., Hilt, B., Glasscock, D., Lundqvist, P., & Krokstad, S.
- Affiliations
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO)
- Danish Ramazzini Center (DK)
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Torske, Magnhild Oust
- Venue
- Journal of Agromedicine
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2015-10-21
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 24-33
- ISSN
- 1059-924X (ISSN-L)
- 1545-0813
- PMC
- PMC4720047
- OpenAlex
- W1767878916
- Cited by
- 96
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 4.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Agromedicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- BIBSYS Brage (BIBSYS (Norway)) (submittedVersion)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Research Levy on Agricultural Products/the Agricultural Agreement Research Fund, Norway.
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Agriculture and Farm Safety
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Burnout
- Keywords
- farmers, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, occupational stress, mental health, socioeconomic status, occupational groups, sex differences, age differences, HUNT3, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale
- MeSH terms
- Farmers, Adult, Aged, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorders, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Norway, Surveys and Questionnaires, Socioeconomic Factors, Young Adult
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