Leo Sher, M.D.

The 2022 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report was released on September 19, 2022 (1). It shows that Veteran suicides decreased in 2020 for the second year in a row. Fewer Veterans died by suicide in 2020 than in any year since 2006.

In 2020, there were 6,146 Veteran suicide deaths, which was 343 fewer than in 2019. The unadjusted rate of suicide in 2020 among U.S. Veterans was 31.7 per 100,000. Over the period from 2001 to 2020, age- and sex-adjusted suicide rates for Veterans peaked in 2018 and then fell in 2019 and 2020. From 2018 to 2020, age- and sex-adjusted suicide rates for Veterans fell by 9.7%. From 2019 to 2020, among Veteran men, the age-adjusted suicide rate fell by 0.7%, and among Veteran women the age-adjusted suicide rate fell by 14.1%. Comparisons of trends in Veteran suicide and COVID-19 mortality over the course of 2020 and across Veteran demographic and clinical subgroups did not indicate an impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Veteran suicide mortality.

Reference

1. VA Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. 2022 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, September 2022. URL: https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/docs/data-sheets/2022/2022-National-Veteran-Suicide-Prevention-Annual-Report-FINAL-508.pdf