Relations Between Suicide and Traumatic Brain Injury, Psychiatric Diagnoses, and Relationship Problems, Active Component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2001-2009

This retrospective case-control study of members of the active component of the U.S. Armed Forces compared those who died from suicide to controls matched by service, gender, race, age, date of entry into the active component and years of service. The surveillance period was 2001 to 2009. The groups were compared with respect to numbers of deployments and documented diagnoses of traumatic brain injury (TBI), mood disorders, alcohol dependence post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), partner relationship problems and family circumstance problems. Cases and controls were similar regarding frequencies and types of TBIs and numbers of deployments. In multivariate analyses, increased odds of suicide were associated with mood disorders partner relationship problems, and family circumstance problems, but not with mild TBI, alcohol dependence, or PTSD. A separate analysis revealed that psychiatric comorbidities increased odds of suicide. Limitations are discussed including the possibility that some controls with mild TBIs may have died from suicide after their military service.