Genetic and Psychosocial Risk Factors Associated with Suicide Among Community Veterans: Implications for Screening, Treatment and Precision Medicine

Abstract Introduction: Since veteran suicide is a concern and our knowledge of predictive factors is still limited, our objective was to assess risk factors for suicide, including genetic factors, among deployed veterans. Methods: For this study, we surveyed 1730 veterans who were outpatients in a multi-hospital system in Pennsylvania. Altogether, 1041 veterans (60%) provided a DNA sample. The genetic risk variants investigated were within loci previously associated with PTSD and substance misuse, including CRHR1, CHRNA5, RORA, and FKBP5 genetic variations,