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 Soldiers who were never deployed were at highest risk for suicide
attempts during their second month of service.
Risk among soldiers on their first deployment was highest during the
sixth month of deployment.
And among those who'd completed deployment, risk peaked again five
months after they'd returned home, researchers found.
"Suicide attempts are important targets for care," said lead author
Dr. Robert Ursano, of the Uniformed Services University of the
Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. "We always talk about
completed suicide, but completed suicide is just the tip of the
iceberg."
He and his colleagues write in JAMA Psychiatry that suicide attempts
have increased in the U.S. Army over the past decade but haven't
been closely studied.
Understanding risk factors helps in the creation of interventions
for suicide attempts, the researchers add.
Their new report focused on 163,178 enlisted Army soldiers on active
duty between 2004 and 2009. During that time, 9,650 soldiers
attempted suicide. About 86 percent were male, about 68 percent were
younger than 30, and most were white, high school graduates and
married.
While 40 percent of the total population had never been deployed,
that group accounted for about 61 percent of the soldiers who
attempted suicide. Previously deployed soldiers accounted for 29
percent of the suicide attempts, and currently deployed soldiers
accounted for about 10 percent.
Regardless of deployment status, risk of suicide attempts was higher
among female soldiers, early-career soldiers and those with a recent
mental health diagnosis. Deployment status was also tied to suicide
attempt risk.
Among soldiers with just one previous deployment, odds of a suicide
attempt were higher for those with depression or post-traumatic
stress disorder.
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The new study can't say why risk of suicide attempt peaks at
different times during different phases, but Ursano pointed out that
the variations were seen in people of different skill levels in
different environments.
"It’s important to remember both the people and stressors are
changing," he said.
The new research is a part of the Army Study to Assess Risk and
Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS). According to Ursano,
Army STARRS is modeled after the famed Framingham Heart Study, which
started tracking participants in 1948 and formed the basis for
recommendations to maintain a healthy heart.
"Suicide attempts are very important to think about," Ursano told
Reuters Health. "In the U.S. there are more suicide attempts each
year than there are first heart attacks. So suicide and suicide
attempts are important to target with interventions."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1TzScUc JAMA Psychiatry, online May 25, 2016
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