cover image: 2015 report on suicide mortality in the Canadian Armed Forces (1995 to 2014)

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2015 report on suicide mortality in the Canadian Armed Forces (1995 to 2014)

6 Nov 2015

Jeff Whitehead MD MSc FRCPC Directorate of Force Health Protection, Epidemiology Section 1.1 Introduction There has been concern expressed since the early 1990s about the apparent rate of suicide in the CAF and its possible relationship to deployment.1 In response to these concerns, the CAF began an active suicide mortality surveillance program to determine the rate of suicide among CAF personnel [...] For example, in the period from 1995 to 2004, the number of suicides among CAF Regular Force males with a history of deployment was 73% of that expected based on Canadian male suicide rates, meaning that male personnel who had ever deployed were 27% less likely to die of suicide compared to the Canadian population of males of the same age. [...] Of the suicides reported here, alcohol use at the time of the event was confirmed in 2 (13.3%) suicides while a combination of drug and alcohol use at the time of the event was also confirmed in 2 (13.3%) additional individuals. [...] These included enhanced screening for isolated postings; the inclusion of the family in the member’s health care, and strengthening the 12 20 Surgeon General Document Number SGR-2015-005 2015 Report on Suicide Mortality in the CAF (1995 to 2014) relationship between the military and civilian health care system to enhance cont [...] To further examine suicide trends in Regular Force males in the CAF, the following analyses were conducted for the time period of January 2002 to December 2014: 1) calculation of crude rates for the Army versus the non-Army Commands and age-adjusted rates by these same groupings, 2) re-calculation of the suicide rate in the Combat Arms trades; and 3) the calculation of an age-standardized moving a
armed forces suicide

Authors

Rolland-Harris, Elizabeth

Pages
51
Published in
Ottawa, Ontario

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