Against Suicide

Male U.S. Veterans More Likely to Commit Suicide

According to a new report, male U.S. veterans are more likely to commit suicide than those who have never served in the military.

Mark Kaplan, a professor of community health at Portland State University, and colleagues collected data on 320,000 men over the age of 18 who participated in the National Health Interview Survey. The men were followed for a period of 12 years.

When they analyzed the data, they found that men who had served in the military at any time between 1917 and 1994 were twice as likely to die of suicide than men who had never served in the armed forces. Veterans were also more likely to own a gun and to use a gun to commit suicide.

The study authors expect this trend to continue with service members who are currently serving in Afghanistan and Iraq and recommend that returning veterans should be screened by their primary care physician for depression and suicidal thoughts.

The study will appear in the July issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.