Rates of US veteran suicidal thoughts dipped slightly during COVID-19US veteran suicide ideation (SI) rates showed a slight decrease during the first year of the pandemic, according to a JAMA Psychiatry study yesterday.
Among the associated risks, however, was having COVID-19, which doubled the odds of SI.The researchers gave a longitudinal survey to 3,078 US veterans in November 2019 and then in November 2020.
Almost all participants were men (91.6%), 79.3% were White, and the average age was 63.2 years. While 10.6% had suicidal thoughts in the year prior to the pandemic, at the follow-up survey, only 7.8% reported SI.