Estimating the number of suicides among Vietnam veterans

Unconfirmed reports that 50,000 or more Vietnam veterans have committed suicide give the impression that these veterans are at exceedingly high risk of suicide compared with other veterans and nonveterans of the same age. On the basis of projections from two population-based mortality studies, the authors estimate that fewer than 9,000 suicides occurred among all Vietnam veterans from the time of discharge through the early 1980s. The sixfold or greater relative risk of suicide implied by the unsubstantiated suicide death tolls is also demonstrated to be incompatible with the findings of epidemiologic studies of mortality risk among Vietnam veterans.