Chronic pain, sleep disorders and increasing health challenges were identified as risk factors that veterans most frequently reported to doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs prior to their deaths by suicide from 2020-2022, according to a new VA report. (Joshua Seybert/U.S. Air Force)
WASHINGTON — Chronic pain, sleep disorders and increasing health challenges were identified as risk factors that veterans most frequently reported to doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs prior to their deaths by suicide from 2020-2022, according to a new VA report.
The analysis conducted by the VA’s Behavioral Health Autopsy Program identified leading suicide risk factors in the health records of 2,654 veterans who had taken their own lives in those two years. The veterans were enrolled in VA care.
Four of the five most frequently documented problems were about physical well-being, according to the 2024 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report. Information was gathered on clinical diagnoses, health conditions, personal life circumstances and psychosocial factors. Findings showed nearly 55% of 2,654 veterans who took their own lives had reported pain problems in the year before they died.
“The pain I have is constant — there is pain in my hand, my neck [and] my head,” said Esteban Blis, a 55-year-old retired Army staff sergeant who served from 1993 to 2011 with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
He said he sustained a traumatic brain injury and other physical injuries when the military aircraft that he was flying in made a hard landing in Afghanistan in 2010.
“The chronic pain causes a lot of complications for me today like insomnia and high blood pressure,” said Blis, who was hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury and honorably discharged a year later.
But Blis, who now lives in Panama, said he thinks the VA does not adequately address chronic pain in veterans because it is so common.
“They just hand you painkillers,” he said.
The prevalence of pain was the most frequently documented complaint among the veterans who committed suicide between 2020-2022.
More than half reported persistent sleep problems that affected their well-being. More than 40% had an increase in physical health problems in the year prior to their deaths. One-third experienced a recent decline in physical activity, according to the report.
About 1/3 of the veterans also disclosed they were having relationship problems, which was the fifth most frequently documented risk factor by veterans, according to the report.
The VA conducts an analysis of veteran suicide rates each year. Veteran suicides rose to 6,407 for calendar year 2022, up by three from the previous year, according to the VA’s most recent report. Veteran suicide was about 1.5 times higher than the general population. Though veterans compose 7.6% of the general population, nearly 14% of adult suicides are among veterans, the National Institutes of Health said in an April 2022 report.
The autopsy program identified a total of two dozen risk factors for veterans.
Sources for health information included VA health records, coroner and medical examiner reports, death certificate records, reports from law enforcement agencies, media and news outlets and information shared by family members.
The findings provide a “unique resource for understanding the characteristics and context” of veteran suicides for the two years studied, according to the report.
Suicide ranked as the 12th highest cause of death among veterans for each of the three years studied by the autopsy program.
The VA launched a 988+1 crisis line in 2022 to provide immediate help to at-risk veterans. Nearly one million veterans contacted the crisis line during its first year of operation, which included phone calls, texts and chats. The VA also provides free emergency care at VA and non-VA health facilities for veterans at imminent risk of suicide, according to the agency.
Firearm deaths contributed to most veteran suicides from 2021 to 2022, according to the VA’s annual report on veteran suicides. Guns were also used more often by veterans to kill themselves than people in the general population. The report found 27% of the veterans had “unsecure firearms in the home” prior to their death.
Other relevant factors identified in health records of veterans who had committed suicide between 2020 and 2022 were problems with self-control and acting impulsive, financial losses, feelings of alienation, and evidence the veteran made plans to commit suicide.
Blis, who is 100% disabled, said the VA continues to prescribe him painkillers and other medication to address the chronic pain, insomnia and irritability that he experiences. He serves as an advocate for veterans in Panama.
“Helping others is what keeps me going,” said Blis, who formed the You Served, We Care Foundation, a nonprofit that connects veterans living overseas with resources for their health care. “The VA needs to care more for the veterans who served this country. There needs to be a greater focus on rehabilitating veterans with chronic pain and not just give us pills. They just make us addicted. The problems get worse.”
