The results of a large study on military veterans in the United States suggests that it is young white men who have the highest risk of suicide.
Researchers who examined government data on more than 800,000 veterans treated for depression between 1999 and 2004, discovered that the overall suicide risk was 7 to 8 times higher compared with that in the general population.
The researchers also found that male veterans had roughly three times the rate of suicide as female veterans and younger veterans between the ages of 18 to 44, had a higher suicide rate than their older counterparts.
Men 65 years or older had the second highest risk, while the lowest risk was seen among men between the ages of 45 and 64 years old and white veterans were much more likely to commit suicide than all other racial groups, at a rate more than three times that of African-Americans.
During the 5-year study period the number of veterans who committed suicide equated with the rates among men in the general population suffering from depression; of the 807,694 depressed veterans in the study, 1,683 -- or 0.2 percent -- killed themselves.
The researchers led by Dr. Kara Zivin of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, say the results indicate those veterans who might possibly have a particular risk of developing suicidal tendencies.
Zivin and her colleagues believe this will become increasingly important as more and more soldiers return from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Along with race, age and sex, other factors were also linked with suicide risk.
Veterans who admitted to substance abuse were at increased suicide risk, while those with service-related disabilities were actually at lower risk than vets without such injuries.