thedrifter
06-14-07, 11:25 AM
Study: Vets twice as likely to commit suicide
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jun 14, 2007 6:41:02 EDT
PORTLAND, Ore. — American veterans commit suicide at twice the rate of civilians, a study by Portland researchers said.
The study’s authors and others involved in veterans’ affairs say the findings of the study are a wake-up call for both government and civilian health care providers dealing with veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.
They note that veterans who have been physically impaired are at greatest risk, a significant finding given advances in military medicine that enable troops to survive wounds that would have killed them in an earlier time.
“This does foreshadow some ominous trends,” said Mark S. Kaplan, a professor of community health at Portland State University and the study’s lead author.
The study’s findings include veterans of conflicts from World War I to the 1991 Persian Gulf War. They appear in the July issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
The study broadened its reach beyond veterans who receive care through the Department of Veterans Affairs system to those treated in civilian hospitals and clinics, the authors said.
The study surveyed 104,026 veterans, of whom 197 committed suicide, and 216,864 civilians, of whom 311 committed suicide. The researchers adjusted for a lengthy list of social and economic factors to reach the conclusion that the suicide rate among veterans was twice as great as that among civilians.
The findings described other factors affecting suicide among veterans:
* Whites and men with more than 12 years of education were at greater risk.
* Veterans are 58 percent more likely to shoot themselves than nonveterans.
* Veterans and nonveterans had the same risk of death from other causes such as disease and accidents.
* Veterans who committed suicide were more likely to live in rural areas.
* Overweight veterans had a lower risk for suicide than veterans of normal weight.
Kaplan plans a follow-up to measure how the intensity of combat affects mental health.
“There are different kinds of combat experience,” he told The Oregonian newspaper. Service in Iraq might be especially hard, he said, with the ever-present stress of anticipating roadside bombs and ambushes.
Even in Baghdad’s Green Zone, military desk workers live with fear of an incoming mortar round, he said.
Another study author, Dr. Bentson McFarland, a professor of psychiatry, public health and preventive medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, said he believes that veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan “are at very high risk.”
“They find themselves under fire at all times, no safe zones — that’s extremely stressful,” he said. “Then there’s the time commitment — it seems like an endless war. At least in World War II, they could see on a month-by-month basis that they were making some headway.”
Michael O’Rourke, assistant director of veterans health policy for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said that of the 686,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who have been separated from the service, more than 39,000 have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder — a risk factor for suicide — at Veterans Affairs facilities.
O’Rourke said there is a potential for far more to be diagnosed, and he worries what will happen when some 700,000 additional veterans muster out of the service.
The Veterans Affairs system acknowledged in a May report shortcomings in its mental health programs and is bracing for a rise in mental health care needs.
Ellie
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jun 14, 2007 6:41:02 EDT
PORTLAND, Ore. — American veterans commit suicide at twice the rate of civilians, a study by Portland researchers said.
The study’s authors and others involved in veterans’ affairs say the findings of the study are a wake-up call for both government and civilian health care providers dealing with veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.
They note that veterans who have been physically impaired are at greatest risk, a significant finding given advances in military medicine that enable troops to survive wounds that would have killed them in an earlier time.
“This does foreshadow some ominous trends,” said Mark S. Kaplan, a professor of community health at Portland State University and the study’s lead author.
The study’s findings include veterans of conflicts from World War I to the 1991 Persian Gulf War. They appear in the July issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
The study broadened its reach beyond veterans who receive care through the Department of Veterans Affairs system to those treated in civilian hospitals and clinics, the authors said.
The study surveyed 104,026 veterans, of whom 197 committed suicide, and 216,864 civilians, of whom 311 committed suicide. The researchers adjusted for a lengthy list of social and economic factors to reach the conclusion that the suicide rate among veterans was twice as great as that among civilians.
The findings described other factors affecting suicide among veterans:
* Whites and men with more than 12 years of education were at greater risk.
* Veterans are 58 percent more likely to shoot themselves than nonveterans.
* Veterans and nonveterans had the same risk of death from other causes such as disease and accidents.
* Veterans who committed suicide were more likely to live in rural areas.
* Overweight veterans had a lower risk for suicide than veterans of normal weight.
Kaplan plans a follow-up to measure how the intensity of combat affects mental health.
“There are different kinds of combat experience,” he told The Oregonian newspaper. Service in Iraq might be especially hard, he said, with the ever-present stress of anticipating roadside bombs and ambushes.
Even in Baghdad’s Green Zone, military desk workers live with fear of an incoming mortar round, he said.
Another study author, Dr. Bentson McFarland, a professor of psychiatry, public health and preventive medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, said he believes that veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan “are at very high risk.”
“They find themselves under fire at all times, no safe zones — that’s extremely stressful,” he said. “Then there’s the time commitment — it seems like an endless war. At least in World War II, they could see on a month-by-month basis that they were making some headway.”
Michael O’Rourke, assistant director of veterans health policy for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said that of the 686,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who have been separated from the service, more than 39,000 have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder — a risk factor for suicide — at Veterans Affairs facilities.
O’Rourke said there is a potential for far more to be diagnosed, and he worries what will happen when some 700,000 additional veterans muster out of the service.
The Veterans Affairs system acknowledged in a May report shortcomings in its mental health programs and is bracing for a rise in mental health care needs.
Ellie