Suicide after leaving the UK Armed Forces 1996-2018: a cohort study

'Methods and findings We conducted a retrospective cohort study of suicide in personnel who left the regular UKAF between 1996 and 2018 by linking national databases of discharged personnel and suicide deaths. Of the 458,058 individuals who left the UKAF, 1,086 (0.2%) died by suicide. The overall rate of suicide in veterans was not greater than the general population (SMR [95% CI] 94 [88-99]). However, suicide risk was two to four times higher in male and female veterans aged under 25 years than in the same age groups in the general population (age-specific mortality ratios ranging from 160 to 409). Male veterans aged 35 years and older were at reduced risk of suicide (age-specific mortality ratios 47 to 80)...'

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/...

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Sociodemographic inequalities in suicides in England and Wales: 2011 to 2021

'Armed forces membership

At the time of the 2011 Census, if someone was a serving member of the armed forces, their rate of suicide was estimated to be lower than the rate for people who were not members (for both men and women) (Figure 6). The rate was lower for women who were dependants of a serving member of the British or Overseas armed forces (2.97 per 100,000 people, 95% CI: 1.76 to 5.03) compared with those who were not members or dependants of a member (6.46 per 100,000 people, 95% CI: 6.22 to 6.71). Conversely, for men the opposite was found, with dependants of serving members of the armed forces having the highest rate compared with those who were current members or not members.'

Figure 6: Suicide rates were lowest in serving members of the armed forces

Rates of suicide per 100,000 people by armed forces status in England and Wales, 2011 to 2021

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationa...