Nevada Veterans Suicide Rate 74% Higher Than National Rate

Nevada’s veteran suicide rate remains staggering 
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
By YESENIA AMARO
June 9, 2015

One Nevada veteran commits suicide about every three days.

The suicide rate for veterans in the Silver State has remained significantly high since the release of a 2012 report that was a “call to action” to address “an epidemic” evident in the staggering figures, according to a recent state followup on the issue.

Forty-seven veterans for every 100,0000 commit suicide in the state, compared to 23 people for every 100,000 in the general population, according to 2011-13 death records data in the new report.

“Revisiting an Epidemic: Suicide Mortality in Nevada’s Military Veterans, Service Members and Their Families” was produced by Luana J. Ritch, a quality assurance specialist with the state’s Division of Public and Behavioral Health.

Preliminary death records data for 2013 was included in the report. Preliminary data for 2014 is expected to become available in the fall, Ritch said.

“We still have a lot of issues,” Ritch said Tuesday. “There is a hesitancy to want to seek care… There’s just a lot that goes into these numbers.”

The number are not much different from those in the 2012 report. There were 320 veteran suicide deaths in the state from 2011 to 2013. That represents a decrease of 64 deaths from the previous period when there were 384 veteran suicide deaths from 2008 to 2010.

In 2012, the Nevada veteran suicide rate was 74 percent higher than the national rate of 12 deaths per 100,000. That statistic was not calculated in this year’s report, but the national rates have also increased in recent years.

“It still remains relatively high,” Ritch said of the Nevada rate.
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