Suicide among military members study launched by NIH

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

The National Institute of Mental Health has partnered with four research institutions to determine why suicide rates among deployed members of the U.S. armed forces continues to rise.

The Army requested the $50 million study because slightly more than 20 of every 100,000 current and former soldiers between the ages of 25 and 44 took their own lives in 2008. NIMH researchers will explore the genetic and neurobiological factors that contribute to a person's decision to commit suicide.

Data will be collected by project director Robert Ursano at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, as well as scientists at the  University of Michigan Institute for Social Research,  the Harvard University Department of Health Care Policy, and the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry.

"This is an extraordinary opportunity to assist the Army in addressing a pressing military health issue," said NIMH Director Dr. Thomas R. Insel in a press release. "In addition to helping our armed forces serve the mental health needs of servicemen and women, the study will generate information on suicide risk and protective factors in a large population that will help us better understand suicide, and how to prevent it, in the public at large."