Clinical features of military veterans with or without a history of suicide attempt

Abstract

Background: Suicidal behavior is a critical problem among military veterans. Therefore, it is important to identify psychological suicide risk factors that are unique for veterans of military service. We compared clinical features of 55 veteran suicide attempters with 55 veterans without a history of suicide attempts. Methods: Demographic and clinical characteristics of suicide attempters and non-attempters were assessed and recorded. Based on the Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI) all patients were divided into two groups: patients who do not report any suicidal ideation at all (non-ideators) and people who do (ideators). Results: There was no difference between the groups with regard to age (t= − 0.71, df = 108, p=0.48), gender (χ2=1.50, df = 1, p=0.36), and race (χ2=4.84, df = 5, p=0.44). There were more subjects with a lifetime history of bipolar disorder, substance dependence, or psychotic disorder among suicide attempters compared to non-attempters (χ2=6.67, df = 1, p=0.01, χ2=4.71, df = 1, p=0.04, and χ2=9.83, df = 1, p = 0.002, respectively). There were 34% of current suicide ideators among suicide attempters and 9.3% of suicide ideators among non-attempters (χ2=9.67, df = 1, p=0.002). There was no difference with regard to the proportion of patients with major depression or posttraumatic stress disorder between suicide attempters and non-attempters (χ2=0.10, df = 1, p=0.83 and χ2=0.41, df = 1, p=0.54, respectively). Conclusion: A history of suicide attempt in military veterans is associated with a lifetime history of bipolar disorder, substance dependence, psychotic disorder, or current suicidal ideation but not with a lifetime history of major depression or posttraumatic stress disorder.

Keywords

• suicide
• veterans
• substance dependence
• psychosis
• bipolar disorder