Stress and suicide in medical students and physicians

Abstract

Suicide is the second most common cause of death for medical students, after accidents. Once they have graduated, physicians have higher rates of suicide than the general population, and are consistently at the top of rankings for occupational groups at risk of suicide. However, we should be careful to avoid alarming medical students with these statistics. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for all young people, not just medical students, and the higher rate of suicide among physicians is substantially accounted for by their ready access to lethal means of suicide.