The Need for Outreach in Preventing Suicide among Young Veterans

There has been increasing concern about suicide in active service members. In the US military, suicide is the second most common cause of death [1]. Although mental health problems have clearly been associated with deployment to combat and peacekeeping operations [2,3], the literature on suicide has been mixed. Some studies in armed forces have found that the rate of completed suicide was lower than in the general population [4], while other studies have found higher rates [5] or no difference in suicide rates [6,7]. In this issue of PLoS Medicine, Navneet Kapur and colleagues examine the suicide rate in a very large sample of 233,803 individuals who left the UK Armed Forces, and in doing so they significantly advance our knowledge of suicide among veterans [8]. Unique features of this study include comparison of soldiers who had left the Armed Forces to those who were still serving and to the general population, as well as using administrative data to examine mental health service use by individuals prior to committing suicide. Kapur and colleagues’ study had a number of important findings. Although the overall prevalence of suicide was not higher among members who had left the Armed Forces, the risk of suicide among male soldiers less than 24 years of age was two to three times higher than among the general population and those who were currently serving. This study also showed that soldiers with short lengths of service (i.e., less than two years) were at increased risk of suicide compared to those with longer service periods.