By the Numbers: 21 September 2020

By the Numbers: 21 September 2020

34.4

The number -- out of "1000 psychiatric aeromedical evacuations that occurred between 2001 and 2013" -- that were suicide-related, according to an article published online before print in the journal Military Medicine: Demographic and Occupational Risk Factors Associated With Suicide-Related Aeromedical Evacuation Among Deployed U.S. Military Service Members.
 
Gender, ethnicity, branch of service, occupation classification, and deployment theater were associated with suicide-related aeromedical evacuation (odds ratios ranged from 1.37 to 3.02). Overall, 53% of all service members who received an aeromedical evacuation for any psychiatric condition had been separated from the military for a variety of reasons (both voluntary and involuntary) upon record review in 2015. Suicide-related aeromedical evacuation was associated with a 37% increased risk of military separation compared to evacuation for another psychiatric condition (P < 0.02).