{"id":7825,"date":"2025-08-07T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7825"},"modified":"2025-08-07T18:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T18:30:00","slug":"va-research-wrap-up-new-findings-on-suicide-liver-disease-and-stroke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7825","title":{"rendered":"VA Research Wrap Up: New findings on suicide, liver disease and stroke"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published:<\/strong> 2025-08-07T18:30:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n

This week, VA\u2019s Office of Research and Development published three\u00a0News Briefs<\/a>\u00a0highlighting research findings on a suicide, liver disease and stroke.<\/p>\n

Moral injury increases suicide thoughts and attempts<\/h2>\n

Central Arkansas VA and the National Center for PTSD led a national team of researchers who found Veterans, health care workers and first responders who screened positive for moral injury had six-times greater odds of attempting suicide in their lifetime and were three times more likely to have thought of suicide in the last two weeks.<\/p>\n

The researchers surveyed a national sample of 1,200 men and women from high-stress, service-oriented military and civilian occupations. Within this group, 6% screened positive for probable moral injury. Moral injury can develop from exposure to a highly stressful event that goes against one\u2019s beliefs about morally acceptable conduct. The researchers found moral injury is significantly associated with suicidal thoughts and attempts after controlling for other factors such as mental illness, age and sex. The findings demonstrate the importance of including moral injury in suicide prevention efforts, especially for people who work in high-stress, service-oriented occupations. View the full study from \u201cNJP Mental Health Research.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

GLP1-RA reduces risk of death in liver disease patients<\/h2>\n

Researchers from VA Orlando and the University of Florida reported Veterans with non-alcoholic liver disease who were prescribed GLP1-RA, a newer medication used to treat diabetes and obesity, had less liver disease progression and were 28% less likely to die of heart attacks than patients prescribed another common diabetes medication, DPP4i. <\/p>\n

The researchers examined the medical records of nearly 120,000 Veterans with the common liver disease metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) between 2005 and 2021. MASLD can lead to liver cirrhosis and is associated with an increased risk of major acute cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke. The first line of treatment for MASLD is weight loss, and GLP1-RA is increasingly used to help with weight loss. The findings indicate GLP1-RA can lower the risk of both liver disease progression and heart attack, and may be more effective than prioritizing treating liver disease on its own.\u00a0View the full study from \u201cDiabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Stroke risk higher for women after heart valve replacement<\/h2>\n

VA Eastern Colorado and University of Colorado researchers learned that women were 20% more likely than men to suffer a stroke following a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Also, when women did have a stroke, it was 30% more likely that the stroke will be disabling, leading to death or the inability to return home. The researchers analyzed five years of national data on about 380,000 patients, both Veterans and non-Veterans, who underwent TAVR, a minimally invasive heart procedure for severe aortic stenosis, a narrowing of the heart valve that restricts blood flow. This was the first study that examined the sex differences in stroke severity after a TAVR and adds present-day data to update prior research. The findings emphasize the importance of developing targeted strategies to reduce stroke risk and enhance outcomes for female patients. View the full study from the \u201cJournal of the American Heart Association.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

For more Office of Research and Development updates, visit\u00a0ORD online<\/a>\u00a0or go to https:\/\/www.research.va.gov\/news_briefs\/.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week, VA\u2019s Office of Research and Development published three\u00a0News Briefs\u00a0highlighting research findings on a suicide, liver disease and stroke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":91,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-veterans-health-care","category-mental-health-recovery"],"yoast_head":"\nVA Research Wrap Up: New findings on suicide, liver disease and stroke - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This week, VA\u2019s Office of Research and Development published three\u00a0News Briefs\u00a0highlighting research findings on a suicide, liver disease and stroke.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7825\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VA Research Wrap Up: New findings on suicide, liver disease and stroke - 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