Psychiatric diagnoses and risk of suicide in veterans.

CONTEXT

Although numerous studies have documented the clear link between psychiatric conditions and suicide, few have allowed for the comparison between the strength of association between different psychiatric diagnoses and suicide.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the strength of association between different types of psychiatric diagnoses and the risk of suicide in patients receiving health care services from the Department of Veterans Affairs in fiscal year (FY) 1999.

DESIGN

This project examined National Death Index data and Veterans Health Administration patient treatment records.

SETTING

Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration.

PARTICIPANTS

All veterans who used Veterans Health Administration services during FY 1999 (N = 3 291 891) who were alive at the start of FY 2000.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Psychiatric diagnoses were obtained from patient treatment records in FY 1998 and 1999 and used to predict subsequent death by suicide during the following 7 years in sex-stratified survival analyses controlling for age.

RESULTS

In the 7 years after FY 1999, 7684 veterans died by suicide. In diagnosis-specific analyses, patients with bipolar disorder had the greatest estimated risk of suicide among men (hazard ratio, 2.98; 95% confidence interval, 2.73-3.25), and patients with substance use disorders had the greatest risk among women (6.62; 4.72-9.29).

CONCLUSIONS

Although all the examined psychiatric diagnoses were associated with elevated risk of suicide in veterans, results indicate that men with bipolar disorder and women with substance use disorders are at particularly elevated risk for suicide.