Female veterinarians are far more likely to kill themselves than the general population, and the majority of deaths among women occur because they have taken euthanasia drugs from their practices, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Experts have been aware for several decades that vets had a particularly high incidence of suicide, but until now they didn’t know how pronounced it was among women. The study, published Thursday in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, found that female veterinarians are 3.5 times more likely to kill themselves than the general population, and male veterinarians are 2.1 times more likely.

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