Study of Causes of Mortality and Correlated Variables in Deceased Iranian Veterans, 1979-2004

The first step in epidemiological researches is to study patterns of mortality. The aim of this study was to assess causes of death, duration between injury and death, and the probable correlation between them and some variables such as kind of injury. This study was a retrospective one. Through an available sampling, we sampled 1709 of 8304 deceased veterans between 1979 and 2004 whose data was registered in veterans’ foundation. 1239 of the cases(85%) were married and 215(14.7%) were single. Mean disability percent was 24.3±14.7. Kind of injury was psychiatric in 486(28.5%), physical in 1167(68.4%) and chemical in 371(21.7%). The most frequent causes of death were disease(65.4%) and accidents or unintentional injuries(24.7%). The most common disease causing death was cardiac disease(35%). In 170 cases(10.1%) death was due to war, and in 1387(82.4%) death was not related to war. Relative frequency of each cause of death or kind of disease(as a cause of death) was different among veterans with various kinds of injury. While relative frequency of suicide in psychiatric and non-psychiatric veterans was 21% and 3%(P<0.05-X2 test), relative frequency of pulmonary disease in chemical and non-chemical veterans was 32% and 19% respectively(P<0.05-X2 test). Duration between injury and death was also different among veterans with various kinds of injury(P<0.05-independent t-test). This study showed diseases as the most common cause of death in veterans which is similar to mortality profile of normal population, not similar to military personnel mortality. Various causes of death in veterans with different kinds of injury indicate various health needs in this population which should be taken into account by health and treatment supervisors of veterans’ foundation.