Veteran and Armed Forces Member
Suicides in Maryland
Annual Report 2019
Health – General Article § 4-219
Robert R. Neall, Secretary
Maryland Department of Health
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Table of Contents
Background .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Suicide Deaths among Maryland Residents who served in the U.S. Armed Forces: ..................................... 4
By Age Group ...............................................................................................................................................4
By Race and Ethnicity .................................................................................................................................. 5
By Sex .......................................................................................................................................................... 6
By Method of Suicide .................................................................................................................................... 7
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Background
Maryland Ann. Code Health-General Art., §4-219, established a requirement for the Maryland
Department of Health to produce an annual report describing deaths due to suicide among
Maryland residents who were veterans of the United States Armed Forces, or who were currently
serving in the U.S. Armed Forces at the time of their death. This statute stipulates that the report
is only to include information on suicide deaths disaggregated by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and
method of suicide among those who had served in the Armed Forces. This report is to be
produced and submitted annually through December 2021 to the State Department of Veterans
Affairs, the Senate Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee, the Senate Finance
Committee, and the House Health and Government Operations Committee.
Since January 1, 2015, the Maryland Certificate of Death has included a checkbox that indicates
whether a decedent had ever served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Information on whether the
decedent had previously or was currently serving in the Armed Forces is provided by an
informant, usually a relative or neighbor, to the funeral facility that submits the death certificate
for registration. Therefore there may be cases where veteran service is missed because the
informant was not aware that the decedent had served in the U.S. Armed Forces. The checkbox
does not differentiate between veteran and current active service at the time of death.
Suicides are identified by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner as intentional self-harm and
indicated in the cause of death. These causes of death are then sent to the National Center for
Health Statistics, which codes all cause of death using the International Classification of
Diseases version 10 (ICD-10). The following ICD-10 codes were used to identify the deaths
determined to be suicide for this report: Intentional self-harm (suicide) (U03,X60-X84,Y87.0).
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Suicide Deaths among Maryland Residents who served in the U.S. Armed
Forces:
Over the four year period that Maryland has been capturing information on Armed Forces service
on death records, 2015 through 2018, there was an average of 105 deaths by suicide
among Maryland residents who had served in the Armed Forces. Over this period, suicides
represented one percent of all deaths among Maryland residents whose death certificate indicated
they had served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Deaths by suicide among those who had served in the
Armed Forces represented 17.4% of all suicides among Maryland residents during this three year
period. Twenty-one percent of Maryland residents that died during this period had death
certificates that indicated they had served in the Armed Forces.
By Age Group
Figure 1, shows the number of suicides by age group and year of death. In each year, the highest
number of suicides occurred in the 80 years and older group. The youngest age groups, 17 to 39
years, had the fewest suicide deaths.
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By Race and Ethnicity
The majority of suicide deaths among Maryland residents that had served in the Armed Forces
were among non-Hispanic Whites (Figure 2). In 2018, 86% of the suicide deaths occurred among
non-Hispanic Whites, 10% occurred among non-Hispanic Blacks, 3% occurred among
Hispanics, and 2% among non-Hispanic Asian/Pacific Islanders.
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By Sex
In 2018, 92% of suicide deaths among Maryland residents who had served in the Armed Forces
were men (Figure 3).
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By Method of Suicide
The majority of suicides among Maryland residents who had served in the Armed Forces were
committed using a firearm (Figure 4). In 2018, 68% of these suicides involved a firearm, 17%
were committed by hanging, 5% by exposure to gases, and 5% involved drug or alcohol
intoxication.
