Suicide in former service personnel of the UK Armed Forces
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Suicide in former service personnel: rates, antecedents, and prevention
IRAS ID
265286
Contact name
Navneet Kapur
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Manchester
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6787610 , University of Manchester Data Protection; 8D594/ECC0020, NHS Digital Data Security and Protection Toolkit
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
The main aim of the current study is to investigate suicide risk amongst those who have left the UK Armed Forces, and to make comparisons with serving personnel and the general population. This is an important study since it will update the previous work of the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH) which examined rates and characteristics of individuals who had left the UK Armed Forces between 1996-2005. UK Armed Forces veterans are potentially a highly vulnerable group due to prior adverse life events, the difficulties associated with the transition to civilian life and high rates of homelessness and alcohol and substance misuse. Objectives are to:
1. Investigate age-specific rates of suicide in veterans and compare these with rates in the serving and general populations.
2. Identify risk factors, characteristics, and service contacts among veterans.
3. Describe trends in suicide rates in veterans and compare these with trends in the serving and general populations.The study will be conducted in two phases. In Phase 1, we will conduct a retrospective UK-wide cohort study linking data held by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on all suicide deaths in serving personnel and all personnel discharged from Armed Forces with two databases held by NCISH on general population and mental health patients suicides. In Phase 2, we will collect data on the factors related to suicide from other official sources (e.g. coroners’ records in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; police reports in Scotland) on veterans who have died by suicide.
This new study is likely to provide useful information which will inform preventive efforts in the veteran population.REC name
East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/EM/0293
Date of REC Opinion
18 Dec 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion