O'Toole B I, Cantor C
Department of Psychiatry, University of Queensland, Australia.
Suicide Life Threat Behav. 1995 Winter;25(4):475-88.
The cohort of all Australian former army conscripts of the Vietnam conflict ea was followed from 1965 to 1982 to determine mortality rates and causes of death following completion of their National Service. Suiciders were compared with a random sample of survivors using information contained in their military documents in a nested case-control study. Their military document information was recorded before men were selected for Vietnam service and is uncontaminated by "recall bias." Suicide victims had lower mean scores on the army general intelligence and mechanical comprehension tests, were less likely to have continued education beyond high school, were less likely to be employed in white-collar or skilled blue-collar jobs between leaving school and being drafted, and more likely to have volunteered for the draft. They were more likely to have committed a civilian offense before joining the army, more likely to have gone absent without leave (AWOL), and more likely to have committed other offenses during military service. Suiciders were more likely to have a history of diagnosis and treatment for psychological disorder during service and to be judged to be less than emotionally stable at discharge. Service in Vietnam was not associated with suicide. A log-linear regression model was used to analyze death rates associated with five types of variables: cognitive abilities, education, preservice employment, conduct while in service, and physical and mental health. This analysis produced a model containing only four variables: intelligence test score, postschool education, AWOL charge during service, and history of diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems. The difference in death rates between high scorers on these items and low scorers was 46-fold, from 5.2 to 240.9 per 10,000 person-years.
对所有参加过越南冲突的澳大利亚前陆军应征入伍者队列进行了从1965年至1982年的跟踪，以确定他们服完国民兵役后的死亡率和死亡原因。在一项巢式病例对照研究中，利用军事文件中的信息，将自杀者与随机抽取的幸存者样本进行比较。他们的军事文件信息是在被选派参加越南服役之前记录的，未受“回忆偏倚”影响。自杀受害者在陆军一般智力和机械理解测试中的平均得分较低，高中毕业后继续接受教育的可能性较小，在离校至应征入伍期间从事白领或熟练蓝领工作的可能性较小，而自愿应征入伍的可能性较大。他们在参军前更有可能有过民事犯罪行为，更有可能擅离职守（AWOL），并且在服役期间更有可能犯其他罪行。自杀者在服役期间更有可能有心理障碍的诊断和治疗史，并且在退伍时被判定情绪不太稳定。在越南服役与自杀无关。使用对数线性回归模型分析与五类变量相关的死亡率：认知能力、教育程度、入伍前就业情况、服役期间的行为表现以及身心健康状况。该分析得出一个仅包含四个变量的模型：智力测试得分、高中后教育程度、服役期间的擅离职守指控以及心理问题的诊断和治疗史。这些项目得分高者与得分低者之间的死亡率差异为46倍，从每10000人年5.2例至240.9例。
