Female military/veterans Suicide Risk

It is not just the male military members and veterans that are at high risk for suicide. Young female
veterans are almost three times more likely to commit suicide than non-veterans. The young are also
more likely to do so than older veterans.

Women in the 18 to 34 age bracket are at the highest risk, followed by those aged 35 to 44; and those
aged 45 to 64 were in the lowest risk group.

Data from 16 states, part of the National Violent Death Reporting System show that between 2004 and
2007, 5,948 female suicides in the age group 18 to 34 there were 56 suicides among 418,132 or a ratio
of 1 in 7,465. That was compared to 1,461 out of 33,257,362 non-veterans or 1 out of 22,763.

This should be a wake-up call to care givers and doctors to be more aware of warning signs, and to
take preventative action. Women can be forgotten and left out.

Women veterans also face very high homeless rates, and those with children are even more vulnerable.

The Veterans Suicide Prevention Hotline number is 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Please write that number
down and share it with every veteran you know who is going through depression and/or PTSD and
might be at risk.

So America it is time to stand together for all veterans, demand that every one of them be given
the proper care they need.

Jerald Terwilliger
National Chairman
American Cold War Veterans
"We Remember"

---------------- "And so the greatest of American triumphs... became a peculiarly joyless victory. We had won the Cold War, but there would be no parades." -- Robert M. Gates, 1996

PTSD increases death risk for surgery

Post-Traumatic Stress May Raise Death Risks

SATURDAY, Oct. 17 -- Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder face an increased risk for dying after surgery, even if the surgery is performed years after they have completed their service, according to a U.S. study.

Researchers analyzed data on 1,792 male veterans who had major non-cardiac, non-emergency surgeries between 1998 and 2008. Of that group, 129 (7.8 percent) had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) before their surgery.

Men with PTSD were an average of seven years younger than those without PTSD -- 59 versus 66 years old -- but were much more likely to have cardiac risk factors, the study noted.

One year after surgery, the death rate among men with PTSD was 25 percent higher than for those without PTSD -- 8.5 percent versus 6.8 percent. After the researchers adjusted for age and preexisting medical conditions -- including heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking and depression -- they found that veterans with PTSD were 2.2 times more likely to die within a year of surgery than those without PTSD.

The findings were scheduled to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, held Oct. 17 to 21 in New Orleans.

"This study is the first of its kind, with groundbreaking findings," the study's lead author, Dr. Marek Brzezinski, of the San Francisco VA Medical Center and University of California, San Francisco, said in a news release from the society. "The magnitude of the detrimental effect of PTSD diagnosis on postoperative mortality is unexpectedly large -- greater than that of diabetes, which is an established risk factor for patients undergoing surgery."

The results highlight "the need to consider potential treatments to help reduce risk in the veteran PTSD population, "Brzezinski said. "The number of veterans returning from our current conflicts with PTSD who require surgical treatment is expected to increase in the future."

PTSD affects 15 to 31 percent of Vietnam veterans and 20 percent of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to background information in the news release.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more about PTSD.

Jerald Terwilliger, National Chairman

American Cold War Veterans, Inc