Canada studies elevated suicide rate in military women

Military studies elevated rate of suicide in women in and out of forces

HALIFAX The Canadian military is trying to understand why female personnel in their early 40s were more than twice as likely to die from suicide as their civilian counterparts.

Groundbreaking research by the Canadian Forces, Statistics Canada and Veterans Affairs has shown a statistically significant increase in the number of suicide deaths in female service members between the ages of 40 to 44.

The Canadian Forces Cancer and Mortality Study also found a similar increase in women of the same age who have been released from the military.

“We’re a little bit surprised,” Colonel Colin MacKay, director of Force Health Protection and co-chair of the study’s advisory committee, said in Ottawa.

“This was information we hadn’t had before and is very important information ... because we can now start to look at it more carefully.”

Researchers can’t explain the increase for that age group, but MacKay cautions it involves a small number of women over a 35-year period.
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Military studies elevated rate of suicide in women