Psychiatry
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IMPORTANCE/OBJECTIVE: Although the suicide rate in the U.S. Army has traditionally been below age-gender matched civilian rates, it has climbed steadily since the beginning of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts and since 2008 has exceeded the demographically matched civilian rate. The Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS) is a multicomponent epidemiological and neurobiological study designed to generate actionable evidence-based recommendations to reduce Army suicides and increase knowledge about risk and resilience factors for suicidality and its psychopathological correlates. This paper presents an overview of the Army STARRS component study designs and of recent findings. DESIGN/SETTING/PARTICIPANTS/INTERVENTION: Army STARRS includes six main component studies: (1) the Historical Administrative Data Study (HADS) of Army and Department of Defense (DoD) administrative data systems (including records of suicidal behaviors) for all soldiers on active duty 2004-2009 aimed at finding administrative record predictors of suicides; (2) retrospective case-control studies of fatal and nonfatal suicidal behaviors (each planned to have n = 150 cases and n = 300 controls); (3) a study of new soldiers (n = 50,765 completed surveys) assessed just before beginning basic combat training (BCT) with self-administered questionnaires (SAQ), neurocognitive tests, and blood samples; (4) a cross-sectional study of approximately 35,000 (completed SAQs) soldiers representative of all other (i.e., exclusive of BCT) active duty soldiers; (5) a pre-post deployment study (with blood samples) of soldiers in brigade combat teams about to deploy to Afghanistan (n = 9,421 completed baseline surveys), with sub-samples assessed again one, three, and nine months after returning from deployment; and (6) a pilot study to follow-up SAQ respondents transitioning to civilian life. Army/DoD administrative data are being linked prospectively to the large-scale survey samples to examine predictors of subsequent suicidality and related mental health outcomes. ⋯ Integration across component studies creates strengths going well beyond those in conventional applications of the same individual study designs. These design features create a strong methodological foundation from which Army STARRS can pursue its substantive research goals. The early findings reported here illustrate the importance of the study and its approach as a model of studying rare events particularly of national security concern. Continuing analyses of the data will inform suicide prevention for the U.S. Army.
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Although historically the Army suicide rate has been significantly lower than the civilian rate, in 2004, the suicide and accidental death rates began trending upward. By 2008, the Army suicide rate had risen above the national average (20.2 per 100,000). In 2009, 160 active duty Soldiers took their lives, making suicide the third leading cause of death among the Army population. ⋯ The Army STARRS project, through its collaborative, prospective, and robust innovative design and implementation, may provide the beginning of a similar scientific cohort in mental disorders. The work of this project will help understand biological and psychological aspects of military service, including those leading to suicide. When coupled with timely feedback to Army leadership, it permits near real-time steps to diagnose, mitigate, and manage emerging mental health issues and the root causes of risk and resilience in Army Soldiers, with potential impact extending across many traumatized populations-not unlike a parallel process that has markedly improved survival and recovery from physical combat wounds.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Exploring the longitudinal trajectories of posttraumatic stress disorder in injured trauma survivors.
The goal of this study was to examine the longitudinal trajectories of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in a sample of acutely injured hospitalized civilian trauma survivors who participated in a randomized clinical trial. Prior longitudinal descriptive research has shown that there are distinct trajectories of PTSD symptoms over time in trauma survivors. Limited clinical trial research exists that describes the patterns of the trajectories as well as the risk factors that influence the trajectories for seriously injured trauma-exposed patients. ⋯ These findings suggest that there is a need for early PTSD interventions that anticipate differences in injured patients' PTSD trajectory profiles. Stepped care intervention procedures may optimally address the diverse PTSD trajectory patterns observed in injured trauma survivors through the tailoring of intervention timing and dosing.