Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Oct 15;21(1):510.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-021-03526-2.

The global prevalence of depression, suicide ideation, and attempts in the military forces: a systematic review and Meta-analysis of cross sectional studies

Yousef Moradi  1   2 , Behnaz Dowran  3 , Mojtaba Sepandi  4
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

The global prevalence of depression, suicide ideation, and attempts in the military forces: a systematic review and Meta-analysis of cross sectional studies

Yousef Moradi et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: Given the wide range of depressive disorders, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in various military studies around the world, determining the exact prevalence of these disorders in line with health planning as well as care and treatment service designing for military forces can be useful. The aim of the present meta-analysis was to determine the pooled prevalence of depressive disorders, suicide thoughts, and attempts in the military.

Methods: The present systematic review and meta-analysis study was performed based on PRISMA criteria in 5 steps of the search strategy, screening and selection of articles, data extraction, evaluation of article quality and meta-analysis. International databases (PubMed (Medline), Scopus, Web of science, Embase (Elsevier), PsycInfo (Ovid), Cochrane CENTRAL (Ovid)) were searched using related keywords extracted from Mesh and Emtree. After screening and final selection of articles, data were extracted and qualitative evaluation was performed using the NOS checklist.

Results: The results of meta-analysis showed that the prevalence of depression in active military forces and veterans was 23% (%95 CI: 20-26%) and 20% (%95 CI: 18-22%), respectively. In addition, the prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempts in the military was 11% (%95 CI: 10-13%) and 11% (%95 CI: 9-13%), respectively. The prevalence of suicide ideation and attempts in drug-using military was 18% (%95 CI: 7-33%) and 30% (%95 CI: 23-36%), respectively. The prevalence of suicidal ideation and attempts in military consuming alcohol were 9% (%95 CI: 4-13%) and 8% (%95 CI: 7-10%), respectively. In militaries with AIDS / HIV, the prevalence of suicide attempts was 5% (%95 CI: 4-8%).

Conclusion: Therefore, it is necessary to develop and design training and intervention programs in order to increase the awareness of the military, especially veterans, to prevent the occurrence of suicide and depression.

Keywords: Depression; Military; Suicide attempts; Suicide ideation; Systematic review and Meta-analysis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The Search Strategy Outputs and Screening Process based on Title, Abstract, and Full Text
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Results of Publication bias and Heterogeneity in pooled prevalence of depression in active duty and veteran military
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The pooled prevalence of Suicide thought in all military
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The pooled prevalence of Suicide attempted in all military
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Results of Publication bias and Heterogeneity in pooled prevalence of Suicide though and attempted in all military
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Wise T, Dolan RJ. Associations between aversive learning processes and transdiagnostic psychiatric symptoms in a general population sample. Nat Commun. 2020;11(1):4179. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-17977-w. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Best MW, Law H, Pyle M, Morrison AP. Relationships between psychiatric symptoms, functioning and personal recovery in psychosis. Schizophr Res. 2020;223:112–118. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2020.06.026. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Foxx CL, et al. Effects of immunization with the soil-derived bacterium mycobacterium vaccae on stress coping behaviors and cognitive performance in a "two hit" stressor model. Front Physiol. 2020;11:524833. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2020.524833. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mota N, et al. Course and Predictors of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the Canadian Armed Forces: A Nationally Representative, 16-Year Follow-up Study: Cours et prédicteurs du trouble de stress post-traumatique dans les Forces armées canadiennes: une étude de suivi de 16 ans nationalement représentative. Can J Psychiatr. 2021;70(6):743–72. 10.1177/0706743721989167. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sullivan KS, et al. Mental health outcomes associated with profiles of risk and resilience among U.S. Army spouses. J Fam Psychol. 2021;35(1):33–43. 10.1037/fam0000702. - PMC - PubMed