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 Researchers say the results particularly highlight the importance of
focusing prevention efforts on young enlisted men and women in their
first tour of duty.
"Looking at suicide attempts is one part of the story of how does
one get from suicide ideation to suicide plans to suicide attempt to
completed suicide," said Dr. Robert Ursano of the Uniformed Services
University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. "The mental
health and behavioral health issues that contribute to that risk is
another."
For the new study, the researchers analyzed data on suicide attempts
among U.S. Army soldiers from 2004 through 2009, during the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan. About four of every 1,000 active-duty U.S.
Army soldiers made a suicide attempt during that time.
And in those years, the Army experienced the longest sustained
increase in suicide rates relative to other military branches, such
as the Marines, Navy and Air Force, the researchers note in JAMA
Psychiatry.
To understand what risk factors might predict suicide attempts, they
had data on more than 975,000 people on active duty. About 17
percent of those were officers. There were 9,791 suicide attempts
among those soldiers during the study period.
That worked out to a rate of about 377 suicide attempts per 100,000
enlisted soldiers each year. For officers, the rate was about 28
attempts per 100,000 each year.
It's difficult to compare these rates to average Americans, because
people in the Army differ from the general U.S. population in so
many ways, researchers write. Also, not all suicide attempts in the
general U.S. population may be reported.
Among enlisted soldiers, certain factors increased the risk of a
suicide attempt.
"The highest risk is certainly in the first year of service," Ursano
told Reuters Health. "In fact, likely in the first three months of
service."
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“We also found that suicide attempts are highest in those who never
deployed or who were previously deployed," he said.
Other risk factors included having a mental health diagnosis in the
prior month, being female, being age 29 or younger, having entered
the army after age 25, being white or Asian, being single and not
having completed high school.
It's likely that suicide attempts are less common among officers
because they tend to differ from enlisted soldiers in ways relevant
to risk, Ursano said. For example, officers tend to be older,
married and have higher levels of education.
Still, being female, having a mental health diagnosis in the prior
month and having entered the service after age 25 were also risk
factors for officers. Being over age 40 was another predictor of
risk.
The study cannot say why these factors contribute to suicide risk,
and the next step is to look at more data from the study, Ursano
said.
"There is a series of other drill downs that have to do with looking
at details," he said, such as looking at when during deployment
someone is most at risk.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1LSpo39 JAMA Psychiatry, online July 8, 2015.
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