The Nation - News from Feb. 10, 1987

In the first five years after their discharge from the Army, soldiers who served in Vietnam had a 17% higher death rate than those who served elsewhere in the same period, a federal Centers for Disease Control study shows. The deaths were mainly from motor vehicle accidents, suicide, homicide and accidental poisonings, the study says. After the first five years, “mortality among Vietnam veterans was similar to that of other Vietnam-era veterans, except for drug-related deaths” which continued to be high, said a report in the Feb. 13 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Assn.