Here is a very interesting item showing how easily statistics can be
misinterpreted.
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/11/120-veteran-sui.html
Essentially, CBS News has claimed the US veterans of the Iraq war commit
suicide at up to four times the rate of non-veterans within the same age
range. But someone has written back to point out that men outnumber
women 13:1 among veterans, and that men commit suicide at four times the
rate of women. So what we have here is a group of mostly men committing
suicide at the rate typical of men, not a group of (sex non-identified)
"veterans" committing suicide at a rate four times that of (sex
non-identified) "non-veterans."
Regards,
Chris Green
York U.
Toronto, Canada
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