German research perspectives on suicidality and the rationale for future multinational suicide prevention projects among military service personnel.

As a result of scientific publications indicating that the last two decades have seen an increase in the number of suicides in the US Armed Forces, the topic of suicide in the military of other countries, such as Germany, has also received a lot of attention in media and science alike. Risk factors for suicidal behaviour and suicide were identified in several research projects in the US, Canada, the UK, and Germany. Until now, German suicide research among military service personnel has mainly focused on epidemiological aspects of suicides and suicidality, individual risk factors, sub-groups at risk for suicide, suicides and deployment abroad, and associations of suicide and suicide attempts with acute mental disorders. The key findings are summarized in this review article. Efforts should be made to develop and evaluate risk group-focused and occupation-focused prevention and intervention programs. Future multinational studies should address potential differences between risk groups for fatal and non-fatal suicidal behaviour.

Suicides between 2010 and 2014 in the German Armed Forces-Comparison of Suicide Registry Data and a German Armed Forces Survey.

BACKGROUND: The last 10 years have seen an increase in the number of suicides in the US Armed Forces. Accordingly, the topic of suicides in the German military has received a lot of attention in media and science alike. METHODS: This study retrospectively examined all suicides (N = 107) committed by active, nonretired German military personnel from 2010 to the end of 2014, analyzing archived medical records. In a second step, these data were compared to a representative German Armed Forces survey conducted in 2012 (N = 1,549). RESULTS: The following risk groups for suicide were identified: male (OR = 9.6), single (OR = 7.8), aged over 45 years (OR = 4.0), short period of service (<2 years; OR = 2.7), and low level of education (OR = 2.2). Surprisingly, military personnel with little experience in deployments abroad (<2 missions) showed double the risk (OR = 2.0) compared to those who had been deployed more than once. DISCUSSION: Multiple robustness checks show that being single, aged over 45 years, and having obtained a low level of education exhibit the most robust effects on suicide risk. CONCLUSION: Efforts should be made to develop and evaluate risk group-focused prevention programs. We conclude, that further studies should be initiated to show differences of risk groups between lethal and nonlethal suicidal behavior.