Mental health among retired veterinarians: a nationwide survey
Research into the health and wellbeing of veterinarians has increased in recent years, but we know little about how they get on in retirement. Based on data from the NORVET study*, this article presents the prevalence of anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts among retired veterinarians in Norway.
Veterinarian, PhD, Researcher, Institute for Studies of the Medical Profession, Oslo, Norway
* "Suicidal thoughts, animal euthanasia, and help-seeking among veterinarians in Norway: a nationwide and cross-sectional survey (The NORVET study)" was defended in 2023 at the Department of Behavioural Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway and approved for a PhD.
Introduction
Interest in the health and wellbeing of veterinarians has grown substantially in recent years. Research has so far concentrated particularly on those working in companion animal practice (1,2). Several studies show that veterinarians have an increased risk of suicide (3,4) and a higher prevalence of suicidal thoughts (5,6), anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms (7,8). Their working day is often described as emotionally demanding, with challenges related to the work/home balance and fears over complaints from or criticism by clients and animal owners (9). However, we know little about how the transition to retirement affects the mental health of veterinarians. What happens when they no longer have the demanding but meaningful job which has coloured large parts of their lives?
Physicians represent a natural group for drawing comparisons with veterinarians, and more research is available about them. Earlier studies show that the suicide rate among Norwegian physicians increases with age, particularly among older males (3,10). However, no similar rise in suicide rates has been observed among older male veterinarians in Norway (3). In the same study, there were too few older female veterinarians to calculate their suicide rate in different age groups.
Despite the increased attention being paid to the mental health of veterinarians, we still know little about how they get on in retirement. This study accordingly addresses the following questions: how prevalent are anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms among retired veterinarians compared to those still in work, and how prevalent are suicidal thoughts or plans and suicide attempts among retired veterinarians compared to those still in work?
Materials and methods
Data utilised in this study derive from NORVET, a questionnaire-based survey sent in 2020 to all authorised veterinarians in Norway. The response rate was 75%. This study formed the basis for work on my PhD thesis (11). The material used in this study covers 198 retired veterinarians.
Exact figures for the number of retired veterinarians in Norway are difficult to come by. The Norwegian Veterinary Association had 320 retired members at 31 December 2020. Of these, 78% (n=250) were male and 22% (n=70) female (personal communication, Kristine Fosser, NVA, 13 October 2025). Although the NORVET material included only 198 retirees, the gender distribution is relatively similar (78% in the NVA figure versus 73% in NORVET for males, and 22% versus 27% for females). The Norwegian Food Safety Authority registered a total of 126 veterinarians retiring in 2004-2020 – 19 females (15%) and 107 males (85%) (personal communication, HR department, NFSA, 17 October 2025). The NFSA has cautioned that its records might contain inaccuracies. It is therefore difficult to calculate the exact response rate for retirees in this study.
The questions used to measure anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts, plans and attempts are described in detail in the thesis (11). All are validated psychometric instruments. Scoring for anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms ranged from 1-5, where values above 2.09 for males and 2.19 for females indicate a level where treatment could be required (12).
Analyses were carried out in Stata© version 19.5. Differences in average scores for anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms between retired and working veterinarians were subject to a two-sample t-test, while differences in the proportion with suicidal thoughts (categorical variable) were analysed with chi-square test.
Results
Of the 198 retired veterinarians, 73% were male (n=142) and 27% female (n=53), while three respondents did not specify their gender. Eighty per cent (n=158) reported having a partner, 7% (n=13) were widows or widowers, 45% were aged between 61 and 70, and 55% were aged over 70.
Prevalence of anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms
Average scores and the proportions with symptoms of anxiety and depression which could require treatment are presented in Table 1.
At group level, retired veterinarians reported a significantly lower average level of anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms than those still in work (1.4 with SD=0.5 versus 2.1 with SD=1.0; p<0.001). Average scores of 1.4 and 2.1 for retired and working veterinarians, respectively, are in both cases below the threshold value considered to indicate a possible requirement for treatment.
When the genders are considered separately, retired female veterinarians had a significantly higher level of anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms than males (women 1.6 with SD=0.6, men 1.3 with SD=0.5; p<0.001). Five per cent (n=7) of the retired male veterinarians had scores above 2.09, which indicate symptoms possibly requiring treatment, while the corresponding proportion for female retirees was 15% (n=7).
Among working veterinarians, 43% (n=721) of the women and 24% (n=148) of the men had a score which indicates symptoms possibly requiring treatment. Therefore, a significantly lower proportion of retired veterinarians of both genders had anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms possibly requiring treatment compared to veterinarians of working age (p<0.001 for both chi-squared tests).
Retirees |
Working age |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All retirees |
All of working age |
Men |
Women |
Men |
Women |
|
Mean score (score from 1-5) and standard deviation (SD) |
1.4* (SD=0.5) |
2.1 (SD=1.0) |
1.3 (SD=0.5) |
1.6 (SD=0.6) |
1.7 |
2.2 |
Proportion with a level of anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms denoting potential need of treatment, score >2,09 for men and >2,19 for women | ||||||
Proportion in % and number (n) |
- |
- |
5%** |
15%** (n=7) |
24% |
43% |
* Difference in means ("all retirees" vs. "all of working age") was tested by t-test, p<0.001.
** Differences in proportions with a score above the threshold that is denoting potential need of treatment ("Men - Retirees" vs. "Men – Working age", and "Women - Retirees" vs. "Women – Working age") was tested by chi-square test, p<0.05.
Suicidal thoughts, -plans and -attempts
The frequency distribution for all questions relating to suicidal thoughts among retired veterinarians is presented in Table 2.
Thirteen per cent reported that they had felt life was not worth living during the last year, 7.5% had wished they were dead and 5.9% had thought of taking their own life. These figures are significantly lower than veterinarians of working age (prevalences among the latter are 28%, 20.6% and 20.8% respectively for the first three questions, chi-square test not shown, p<0.001 for all three questions). No retired veterinarians reported that they had attempted suicide. Fewer than five respondents answered the question “Have you seriously considered taking your life”, and are therefore not presented.
The prevalence of suicidal thoughts differed most widely for men. Retired male veterinarians were significantly less likely than those in work to report that life was not worth living (9.5% versus 21.6%), that they wished they were dead (5.1% versus 14.1%) and that they had thoughts of taking their life (5.1% versus 15.3%) (chi-square test not shown, all p-values <0.01).
Regarding women, no significant differences existed between retired and working veterinarians for the first two questions: that life was not worth living (retired 23.4% versus working 29.8%) and that they wished they were dead (14.9% versus 22.8%). Fewer than five retired females answered question 3, which is therefore not presented.
Also, a low number of respondents among both genders meant that the prevalence of and differences related to suicidal plans could not be calculated.
Question |
All retirees |
Men |
Women |
|---|---|---|---|
Have you, during the last year, felt that life was not worth living? |
24/186 |
13/137 |
11/47 |
Have you, during the last year, wished you were dead—for instance, that you could go to sleep and not wake up? |
14/187 |
7/138 |
7/47 |
Have you, during the last year, thought of taking your life, even if you would not really do it? |
11/187 |
7/138 |
NA* |
Have you, during the last year, reached the point where you seriously considered taking your life, or perhaps made plans how you would go about doing it? (n=187) |
NA* |
NA* |
NA* |
Have you, during the last year, made an attempt to take your life? |
0/182 |
0/182 |
0/182 |
Not all retirees reported gender. This leads to a difference in the total sum for men+women compared to "all retirees".
§ The proportion answering "yes" to question 1,2 and 3 is significantly lower among retired veterinarians compared to among veterinarians of working age, tested by chi-square test, p<0.001.
¤ The proportion of retired male veterinarians answering "yes" to question 1,2 and 3 was significantly lower than among men of working age, tested by chi-square test, p<0.01.
*NA: Not shown due to number of respondents being below 5.
Discussion
The main finding of this study was that retired veterinarians had a lower prevalence of anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts than veterinarians of working age.
Big differences exist in the gender distribution between retired and working veterinarians. Among retirees, 73% were men and 27% women, while the distribution was the exact opposite for working veterinarians at 73% women and 27% men. This indicates the probable presence of a substantial cohort effect which must be taken into account when the results are interpreted at group level. In the gender-specific analyses, certain questions had so few respondents in each response category that statistical results could not be calculated.
Gender-specific analyses revealed that retired veterinarians, regardless of gender, had a lower prevalence of anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms than those in work. That accords with a new survey from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. This reveals that, where self-reported mental health is concerned, the younger elderly (60-79 years of age) have fewer mental health problems (anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms) than young adults (20-39 years of age) in the Norwegian population (13).
The prevalence of suicidal thoughts was significantly lower among male retirees than for men in work. Regarding women, we found no significant difference with the first two questions while the number of respondents to the third was insufficient for comparative purposes. This suggests that reporting by female retires was not significantly different from that of women in work, while a significantly smaller proportion of male retirees reported suicidal thoughts than men in work. No retired veterinarians reported suicide attempts in the last year, which is in line with the low prevalence among working veterinarians (0.2%).
The prevalence of suicidal thoughts among the elderly in Norway has not been investigated. However, it is worth noting that differences in mental health outcomes among elderly people often show greater variation than with other age groups. For example, the proportion with depressive symptoms – a risk factor for suicidal thoughts and suicide –rises among the oldest elderly (over the age of 80). Higher suicide rates have also been reported among elderly males (14) and elderly physicians (3,10). The increased risk of suicide among the oldest elderly probably reflects increased exposure to known risk factors, such as social and health-related deprivation and decline (15). The prevalence of suicidal thoughts and associated factors among working veterinarians is described in a separate paper (9).
Generally speaking, the mental health and quality of life among younger elderly (60-79 years of age) in Norway is relatively good compared to young people, the elderly population in earlier times and older people internationally (13). But the oldest elderly (over the age of 80) have higher scores in such areas as mental health problems and depression, while substantial group differences and risk groups are to be found – such as individuals living alone and elderly people in poor health (13).
Strengths and weaknesses
Several methodological aspects are important when interpreting the results, and these are described in detail in the thesis (11). The large gender imbalance among retired and working veterinarians indicates a possible cohort effect which must be taken into account in analyses at group level. We collected information about age in the NORVET material at five-year intervals, with the highest age category as “above 70 years”. This means we are unable to look in more detail at the oldest elderly in our data. A strength of the survey is that the sample is nationwide and in all likelihood representative for retired veterinarians in Norway. In addition, we utilised validated psychometric instruments to measure anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts (11).
Conclusion
Retired veterinarians of both genders had a lower prevalence of anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms than working veterinarians. Retired male veterinarians reported significantly less suicidal thoughts than those in work, while no significant difference existed for women. These results could indicate that retired veterinarians have better mental health than those in work, but gender differences and possible cohort effects must be taken into account.
Summary
This study looked at the prevalence of anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts among retired veterinarians compared to veterinarians of working age. The data is from the NORVET survey, a questionnaire sent to all veterinarians holding an authorisation in 2020. Retired veterinarians of both genders had a lower prevalence of anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts. Where suicidal thoughts are concerned, retired male veterinarians had a lower prevalence than their working counterparts. No difference in the prevalence of suicidal thoughts was found among retired and working female veterinarians.
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