Table 4.

Precipitating and Other Preceding Circumstances of Death for U.S. Army versus Civilian Suicide Decedents, 2005–2010^a

Characteristic	Level	No. (%) with Characteristic		Matched Prevalence Odds Ratios, 95% Confidence Intervalsb
		U.S. Army Suicide Decedents (n = 104)	Civilian Suicide Decedents (n = 416)	Crude	Adjusted for Race, Ethnicity, and Marital Status	Adjusted for All Demographic and Recent Circumstance Variablesc
Precipitating Health Circumstances
Current depressed mood or mental health problem	No/unknown	49 (47)	150 (36)	**	**	**
	Yes	55 (53)	266 (64)	0.62 (0.40–0.97)	0.73 (0.43–1.23)	0.70 (0.41–1.21)
Alcohol dependence, other substance abuse, or suspected intoxication	No/unknown	61 (58)	215 (52)	**	**	**
	Yes	43 (41)	201 (48)	0.76 (0.49–1.17)	0.69 (0.42–1.13)	0.68 (0.41–1.12)
Physical health problems	No/unknown	95 (91)	388 (93)	**	**	**
	Yes	9 (9)	28 (7)	1.36 (0.59–3.15)	1.19 (0.44–3.27)	1.23 (0.45–3.37)
Precipitating Stress-Related Circumstances
Recent crisis (within past 2 weeks)	No/unknown	65 (63)	280 (67)	**	**	**
	Yes	39 (37)	136 (33)	1.27 (0.79–2.03)	1.09 (0.63–1.89)	1.04 (0.55–1.97)
Criminal and civil legal problems	No/unknown	89 (86)	349 (84)	**	**	**
	Yes	15 (14)	67 (16)	0.88 (0.48–1.61)	0.73 (0.36–1.46)	0.67 (0.32–1.42)
Financial problems	No/unknown	92 (88)	375 (90)	**	**	**
	Yes	12 (12)	41 (10)	1.19 (0.60–2.36)	1.30 (0.61–2.77)	1.32 (0.60–2.89)
Job problems	No/unknown	85 (82)	349 (84)	**	**	**
	Yes	19 (18)	67 (16)	1.16 (0.67–2.03)	0.95 (0.50–1.82)	1.00 (0.51–1.98)
Intimate partner problems	No/unknown	48 (46)	243 (58)	**	**	**
	Yes	56 (54)	173 (42)	1.62 (1.06–2.49)	0.91 (0.55–1.51)	0.97 (0.56–1.70)
Other relationship problems	No/unknown	91 (87)	368 (88)	**	**	**
	Yes	13 (13)	48 (12)	1.10 (0.57–2.11)	1.70 (0.83–3.51)	1.86 (0.86–4.02)
Other Relevant Preceding Circumstances
Recent mental health treatment	No/unknown	76 (73)	298 (72)	**	**	**
	Yes	28 (27)	118 (28)	0.93 (0.57–1.51)	1.16 (0.66–2.01)	1.19 (0.66–2.13)d
History of suicide attempts	No/unknown	96 (92)	332 (80)	**	**	**
	Yes	8 (8)	84 (20)	0.32 (0.15–0.68)	0.28 (0.12–0.65)	0.29 (0.12–0.68)d
Premeditation
Left a note	No/unknown	76 (73)	304 (73)	**	**	**
	Yes	28 (27)	112 (27)	1.00 (0.61–1.64)	0.88 (0.50–1.55)	0.95 (0.53–1.70)
Disclosed intent	No/unknown	84 (81)	290 (70)	**	**	**
	Yes	20 (19)	126 (30)	0.54 (0.32–0.93)	0.53 (0.29–0.96)	0.52 (0.28–0.97)

^aData were provided by the National Violent Death Reporting System. Estimates were calculated for Army cases with known law enforcement and/or medical examiner circumstance information and their respective matched civilian cases (Army cases = 104; civilian cases = 416).

^bAll matched prevalence odds ratio estimates accounted for the variables in the match (i.e., state of injury, year of death, and age and sex of decedent). Civilian suicide decedents were the referent population.

^**Identifies the referent level for each variable. The odds ratios = odds of the exposure among Army decedents divided by the odds of the exposure among civilian decedents.

^cThese estimates also adjusted for race/ethnicity, marital status, and all other recent health and stress-related circumstance variables aside from the circumstance of interest. Recent circumstance variables included current depressed mood or mental health problems, alcohol of other substance abuse problems or suspected intoxication, physical health problems, recent crisis, legal problems, financial problems, job problems, intimate partner problems, and other relationship problems.

^dTo prevent collinearity, the variable “current depressed mood or mental health problems” was excluded from the regression model.