Changes in overall and firearm veteran suicide rates by gender, 2001-2010.

Abstract

Introduction To date, the majority of information on veteran suicide rates has been based on the population of veterans utilizing Veterans Health Administration (VHA) services. From 2001 to 2010, both male and female VHA veterans had higher age-adjusted suicide rates than men and women in the U.S. general population. Importantly, however, only 25% of veterans use VHA services, and there is a relative paucity of information on suicide rates overall and by specific mechanisms for the broader population of all veterans. Firearms are a particularly important mechanism for suicide among the veteran population, given their military history and extensive knowledge of and familiarity with firearms. Indeed, firearms have been shown to account for a disproportionate number of veteran suicides when compared to firearm use among suicide decedents in the U.S. general population. Among veterans using VHA services, defined as those who received inpatient or outpatient care during the study period, 69% of suicides among men involved firearms in fiscal years 2007–2008, while 38% of suicides among women involved firearms. By contrast, the proportion of suicides involving firearms in the U.S. general population was lower: 56% among male and 30% among female decedents in 2008. Although information exists on the prevalence of firearms used in veteran suicides, information on mechanism-specific suicide rates and trends in these rates over time is currently lacking. Accordingly, this study aimed to provide novel information on overall and firearm-specific suicide rates among the broad veteran population, which includes both veterans who do and do not utilize VHA services. Suicide rates were computed and compared over time from 2001 to 2010. Furthermore, given documented