[Low use of drugs among farmers].

BACKGROUND

Farmers have a higher prevalence of depression compared to workers with other occupations. We wanted to investigate whether this corresponds to a more frequent use of antidepressants among farmers and to investigate their use of medication in general.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: The study population consisted of 20 166 workers aged 40-47 years from the general population, including 398 farmers and 713 part-time farmers, from a population-based health study carried out in a Norwegian county. In addition to type of occupation and use of medical drugs, mental (HADS) and physical (SF-12) health, life-style factors, height, weight and blood pressure were measured.

RESULTS

The farmers reported significantly lower use of antiperessants and also a significant lower use of medical drugs in general compared with other groups. Their physical health was significantly better compared with other occupational groups and they had a lower consumption of alcohol and tobacco. There were no marked differences in the blood pressure or body-mass index.

CONCLUSION

The lower use of drugs could reflect better health, it could be related to a culturally-related reluctance to the use of drugs, or it could indicate that farmers in some instances are not receiving proper medical care.