Suicides by US active duty soldiers have more than doubled since 2001, according to a January Pentagon report, and current prevention programs have not been that effective in reducing the over 200 reported suicides per year. Enter a huge database program called STARRS–Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Service–to identify risk factors for soldiers’ mental health. The US Army not only likes acronyms, but also never does anything small–a five-year, $65 million program analyzing 1.1 billion data records from 1.6 million soldiers drawn from 39 Army and Defense Department databases. Researchers are looking at tens of thousands of neuro-cognitive assessments, 43,000 blood samples, more than 100,000 surveys, hospital records, criminal records, previous risk studies, family and job histories plus combat logs. The study, also using resources from the National Institute of Mental Health, the University of Michigan and other educational institutions, will conclude this June–and researchers are now wrestling with the privacy and moral consequences of responsibly using this data for health and in leadership. NextGov
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