Chapter 3 - Health
                                         
Table 3.3 Deaths in the UK Regular Armed Forces: by year of occurrence and cause1, age and gender standardised rates2,3, 2001-2010
The only cause of death that has shown an increasing trend during this period was hostile action (killed in action and died of wounds) which varied from 1 per 100,000 (in 2001) to 49 per 100,000 (in 2010). This is as a result of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
 
Age and gender standardised rates per 100,000 strength2 2001   2002   2003   2004   2005   2006   2007   2008   2009   2010  
All 71   75   84   82   81   98   107   73   106   97  
 
Disease-related conditions 22   26   19   23   24   22   21   20   19   13  
   Cancers 13   12   8   12   12   13   15   13   10   8  
   Diseases of the circulatory system 5   12   7   9   8   8   4   5   5   4  
   Other 3   2   4   2   3   <1   2   2   4   2  
 
External causes of injury and poisoning 48   49   65   58   57   76   85   52   85   80  
   Deaths due to accidents 39   41   34   41   35   45   40   20   21   26  
      Land Transport Accidents 24   29   24   28   26   31   26   14   15   19  
      Other 15   12   10   13   9   14   13   6   7   8  
   Deaths due to violence 2   1   19   8   11   26   40   28   59   51  
      Hostile action4 1   *   19   5   10   25   38   28   55   49  
      Other 1   1   <1   3   <1   1   2   *   4   2  
   Suicide and Open verdicts 6   7   12   9   11   5   5   5   5   3  
 
Cause not currently available 1   *   *   <1   1   <1   1   1   2   4  
 
Source: DASA (Health Information)
 
1. DASA code all cause of death information to the World Health Organisation's International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision (ICD-10), 1992.
2. Changes to data previously published in UKDS - i) rates have been updated and are age and gender standardised to the 2010 Armed Forces population where previously published rates were standardised to the 2009 Armed Forces population, ii) JPA strength data up to April 2009 was previously provisional but has now been revised with strength figures considered final and no longer provisional, and iii) small methodological changes introduced, see Deaths in the UK Regular Armed Forces Introduction.
3. Rates which are greater than 0 but would not be rounded to 1 are represented as <1.
4. DASA have included the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Cell (JCCC) categories of killed in action and died of wounds which, together, provide information on the number of Service personnel who have died as a result of hostile action. The term 'killed in action' is used when a battle casualty has died outright or as a result of injuries before reaching a medical facility, whilst 'died of wounds' refers to battle casualties who died of wounds or other injuries after reaching a medical facility.