WEDNESDAY, April 30, 2025 (HealthDay News) -- Sexual assault and sexual harassment during military service dramatically increases veterans’ risk of suicide later in life, a new study says.

Suicide risk is tripled among men and women who experienced sexual trauma while serving, researchers reported April 28 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

“In conclusion, our research shows that military sexual trauma is associated with far-reaching influences on health that persist over decades to affect later-life suicide risk and mortality in both men and women,” concluded the research team led by Dr. Anita Hargrave, an assistant adjunct professor at the University of California-San Francisco.

This is the first study to analyze the effect of military sexual trauma on later suicide risk using a nationally representative sample of veterans, researchers said.

For the study, researchers analyzed Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical records for more than 5 million veterans, looking for links between sexual trauma and suicide.

Researchers found that nearly 16% of female veterans and just over 1% of male veterans had experienced sexual trauma while serving.

Nearly 9% of women who’d experienced military sexual trauma later attempted suicide, compared with about 3% of women who hadn’t been assaulted, results show.

The effects were even worse among men, with nearly 19% of sexual trauma victims attempting suicide compared to about 6% of men who hadn’t been abused, researchers found.

Military sexual trauma also was associated with a 60% increased risk of death by drug overdose in both genders, results show.

Sexual trauma increased suicide risk even after researchers controlled for other factors like post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Although patients with co-occurring PTSD and military sexual trauma (MST) had increased risk for suicide compared with patients with PTSD only, MST-exposed patients without a PTSD diagnosis remain a high-risk population for targeting suicide prevention efforts,” researchers wrote.

These results show that more needs to be done to prevent sexual violence in the military and to care for the victims, researchers concluded.

“Our study is a call to action to reduce sexual trauma in the military,” researchers concluded. “Given the hierarchical nature of the military, there is a need to strengthen systemic structures and policies of holding perpetrators accountable while protecting the safety and privacy of survivors.”

The VA also should do a better job screening for sexual trauma among service members, researchers said.

“We are likely missing many people who have experienced MST,” researchers said. “In doing so, we are missing an opportunity to identify and intervene on the associated increased risk for suicide attempt, overdose, and death across a person’s lifetime.”

If you or a loved one is experiencing a suicidal crisis or emotional distress call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. It is available 24 hours a day.

More information

The Veteran’s Administration has more on military sexual trauma.

SOURCE: Annals of Internal Medicine, April 28, 2025