Internal Army suicide, deployment study a ‘political hot potato’

May 26, 2010 — U.S. Army officials have repeatedly denied any association between deployment histories and increasing suicide rates among soldiers.

That may be why an internal Army study showing just such an association, was described as a “political hot potato” in a March 2010 briefing paper obtained by epiNewswire.

A version of the study completed the following month reported that “more vigorous” but unspecified statistical analyses had erased a previous finding linking combat unit service and suicide risk.

Both versions of the study were completed by the Army’s Behavioral and Social Health Outcomes Program (BSHOP).

The briefing document describes a meeting between the Surgeon General of the Army, Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army General Peter W. Chiarelli, who is in charge of the Army’s suicide prevention efforts, and officials working on the $50 million federal “Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Service Members” (STARRS), an Army and National Institutes of Mental Health study of suicide epidemiology.

A BSHOP analysis of suicide risk found an association between suicides and deployments, the briefing states. Chiarelli described that association as a “political hot potato,” according to the briefing.

Chiarelli and other Army officials have repeatedly downplayed suggestions of any connection between deployments and suicide.  

“As I look across all the factors, from the number of deployments individual brigade combat teams have gone through to everything else, I cannot find a causal link that links anything,” Chiarelli was quoted as saying in a Nov. 17, 2009 Christian Science Monitor story.

‘Statistical adjustments’

After the March meeting, BSHOP appears to have adjusted its statistical analysis.

An internal Army suicide study conducted for the Public Health Command by BSHOP the following month, April 2010, disavows  ”previously reported analyses” that had found that soldiers in the maneuver, fire and effects (MFE; formerly known as Combat Arms) group were disproportionately more likely to commit suicide.

Unspecified statistical adjustments and “more rigorous” analysis showed that no correlation exists between military occupation or deployment history and suicide risk, the internal study states.

That conclusion was described as “complete crap” and “all political” by an individual familiar with the study who asked not to be identified.

The study notes that just under a third of soldiers who committed suicide between 2003 and 2009 had never been deployed, a finding repeatedly cited by Army officials as evidence against an association between deployment and suicide risk.

But no denominators or risk ratios — standard epidemiological data — are provided in the study, making it impossible to assess whether deployment is associated with increased suicide risk.

Nor did the study’s authors compare suicide risks among soldiers who had ever deployed and those who never deployed.

Instead, the study looked at whether number of deployments correlated linearly with suicide risk.

But in a critique of the study obtained by epiNewswire, one Army reviewer pointed out that looking only at an association between deployment number and suicide risk was problematic, because soldiers who were exposed to the most traumatic events during an early deployment may be disqualified from redeployment.

“Additional analysis is needed to examine the interaction of demographic characteristics with other variables of interest such as the level of combat intensity experienced, stresses…and personal resilience,” the study acknowledges.

Suicides increasingly tied to PTSD, anxiety disorders

A total of 761 confirmed cases of soldier suicides were recorded between 2003 and 2009, according to the internal study. Suicide rates for active-duty soldiers more than doubled during that time, from 11 to 24 suicides per 100,000 soldiers, according to the study.

A third of soldiers who committed suicide in 2009 had been diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or other anxiety issues, the study states.

The proportion of soldiers who committed suicide after being diagnosed with PTSD doubled between 2007 and 2009, climbing from 7 percent to 14 percent, the study states.

The proportion of suicides involving soldiers diagnosed with anxiety disorders other than PTSD rose from 7 percent in 2007 to 19 percent in 2009, the study states.

Such diagnoses were associated with an adjusted suicide rate of 59 per 100,000, compared to 14 per 100,000 for soldiers without such diagnoses, the study states.

In 2005 only one soldier who committed suicide had made a previous attempt, but by 2009, 16 soldiers had unsuccessfully attempted suicide before successfully killing themselves, the study states. Most of the suicides occurred in the U.S.

The U.S. Army is the only branch of the military to report suicide counts and rates. The study did not include suicide data for veterans who are no longer in the military, or reservists and National Guard personnel.

Suicide prevention resources available 24/7
Military crisis counselors are available 24 hours a day. Contact Military OneSource toll-free from the continental U.S. at (800) 342-9647 or via their website at www.militaryonesource.com.

Overseas personnel should refer to the Military OneSource website
(www.militaryonesource.com) for dialing instructions for their specific location.

The Army’s most current suicide prevention information is located at www.armyg1.army.mil/hr/suicide/.

Source: epiNewswire (www.epinews.com)