Is There an Epidemic of Suicides among Current and Former US Military Personnel?

Published studies do not suggest that the risk of suicide among veterans of the Vietnam War or the 1991 Gulf War, as a whole, is significantly higher than non-deployed veterans or than the U.S. general population. Their crude annual suicide mortality rates ranges from 15.3 to 25.5/100,000, while a comparable general population rates range from 20 to 24/100,000 (2). However, since historically the rates of suicide among veterans in general have been lower than that of the U.S. population, the recent increased risk of suicide observed among OEF/OIF veterans when compared to the U.S. population (15), even though not statistically significant, warrants attention. Finally, while serving in a conflict by itself was not strongly associated with risk of suicide, level of combat trauma as indirectly measured by having PTSD and being wounded were positively associated with the risk of suicide. These associations are especially pertinent for OEF/OIF veterans as the number of those wounded was 33,907 through March 2009 (20). While the rate of suicide among all military is increasing, there does not seem to be a veteran/military suicide epidemic as reported by the media. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.