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Suicide after Leaving the UK Armed Forces —A Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: Few studies have examined suicide risk in individuals once they have left the military. We aimed to investigate the rate, timing, and risk factors for suicide in all those who had left the UK Armed Forces (1996–2005). METHODS AND FINDINGS: We carried out a cohort study of ex-Armed Forces...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kapur, Navneet, While, David, Blatchley, Nick, Bray, Isabelle, Harrison, Kate
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2009
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2650723/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19260757
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000026
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author Kapur, Navneet
While, David
Blatchley, Nick
Bray, Isabelle
Harrison, Kate
author_facet Kapur, Navneet
While, David
Blatchley, Nick
Bray, Isabelle
Harrison, Kate
author_sort Kapur, Navneet
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Few studies have examined suicide risk in individuals once they have left the military. We aimed to investigate the rate, timing, and risk factors for suicide in all those who had left the UK Armed Forces (1996–2005). METHODS AND FINDINGS: We carried out a cohort study of ex-Armed Forces personnel by linking national databases of discharged personnel and suicide deaths (which included deaths receiving either a suicide or undetermined verdict). Comparisons were made with both general and serving populations. During the study period 233,803 individuals left the Armed Forces and 224 died by suicide. Although the overall rate of suicide was not greater than that in the general population, the risk of suicide in men aged 24 y and younger who had left the Armed Forces was approximately two to three times higher than the risk for the same age groups in the general and serving populations (age-specific rate ratios ranging from 170 to 290). The risk of suicide for men aged 30–49 y was lower than that in the general population. The risk was persistent but may have been at its highest in the first 2 y following discharge. The risk of suicide was greatest in males, those who had served in the Army, those with a short length of service, and those of lower rank. The rate of contact with specialist mental health was lowest in the age groups at greatest risk of suicide (14% for those aged under 20 y, 20% for those aged 20–24 y). CONCLUSIONS: Young men who leave the UK Armed Forces were at increased risk of suicide. This may reflect preservice vulnerabilities rather than factors related to service experiences or discharge. Preventive strategies might include practical and psychological preparation for discharge and encouraging appropriate help-seeking behaviour once individuals have left the services.
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spelling pubmed-26507232009-03-04 Suicide after Leaving the UK Armed Forces —A Cohort Study Kapur, Navneet While, David Blatchley, Nick Bray, Isabelle Harrison, Kate PLoS Med Research Article BACKGROUND: Few studies have examined suicide risk in individuals once they have left the military. We aimed to investigate the rate, timing, and risk factors for suicide in all those who had left the UK Armed Forces (1996–2005). METHODS AND FINDINGS: We carried out a cohort study of ex-Armed Forces personnel by linking national databases of discharged personnel and suicide deaths (which included deaths receiving either a suicide or undetermined verdict). Comparisons were made with both general and serving populations. During the study period 233,803 individuals left the Armed Forces and 224 died by suicide. Although the overall rate of suicide was not greater than that in the general population, the risk of suicide in men aged 24 y and younger who had left the Armed Forces was approximately two to three times higher than the risk for the same age groups in the general and serving populations (age-specific rate ratios ranging from 170 to 290). The risk of suicide for men aged 30–49 y was lower than that in the general population. The risk was persistent but may have been at its highest in the first 2 y following discharge. The risk of suicide was greatest in males, those who had served in the Army, those with a short length of service, and those of lower rank. The rate of contact with specialist mental health was lowest in the age groups at greatest risk of suicide (14% for those aged under 20 y, 20% for those aged 20–24 y). CONCLUSIONS: Young men who leave the UK Armed Forces were at increased risk of suicide. This may reflect preservice vulnerabilities rather than factors related to service experiences or discharge. Preventive strategies might include practical and psychological preparation for discharge and encouraging appropriate help-seeking behaviour once individuals have left the services. Public Library of Science 2009-03 2009-03-03 /pmc/articles/PMC2650723/ /pubmed/19260757 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000026 Text en : © 2009 Kapur et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Kapur, Navneet
While, David
Blatchley, Nick
Bray, Isabelle
Harrison, Kate
Suicide after Leaving the UK Armed Forces —A Cohort Study
title Suicide after Leaving the UK Armed Forces —A Cohort Study
title_full Suicide after Leaving the UK Armed Forces —A Cohort Study
title_fullStr Suicide after Leaving the UK Armed Forces —A Cohort Study
title_full_unstemmed Suicide after Leaving the UK Armed Forces —A Cohort Study
title_short Suicide after Leaving the UK Armed Forces —A Cohort Study
title_sort suicide after leaving the uk armed forces —a cohort study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2650723/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19260757
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000026
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