Abstract

OBJECTIVES
We examined the role of sleep disturbance in time to suicide since the last treatment visit among veterans receiving Veterans Health Administration (VHA) services.
METHODS
Among 423 veteran suicide decedents from 2 geographic areas, systematic chart reviews were conducted on the 381 (90.1%) who had a VHA visit in the last year of life. Veteran suicides with a documented sleep disturbance (45.4%) were compared with those without sleep disturbance (54.6%) on time to death since their last VHA visit using an accelerated failure time model.
RESULTS
Veterans with sleep disturbance died sooner after their last visit than did those without sleep disturbance, after we adjusted for the presence of mental health or substance use symptoms, age, and region.
CONCLUSIONS
Findings indicated that sleep disturbance was associated with time to suicide in this sample of veterans who died by suicide. The findings had implications for using the presence of sleep disturbance to detect near-term risk for suicide and suggested that sleep disturbance might provide an important intervention target for a subgroup of at-risk veterans.

Links

Publisher Full Text

Authors

Pigeon WR, Britton PC, Ilgen MA, Chapman B, Conner KR

Institution

VISN 2 Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention, Canandaigua Veteran Affairs Medical Center, Canandaigua, NY 14424, USA. Wilfred_pigeon@urmc.rochester.edu

Source

American journal of public health 102 Suppl 1: 2012 Mar pg S93-7

MeSH

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Chi-Square Distribution
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Proportional Hazards Models
Registries
Risk Factors
Sleep Disorders
Suicide
Time Factors
United States
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Language

eng

PubMed ID

22390611