A retrospective cohort study of u.s. service members returning from afghanistan and iraq: is physical health worsening over time?
View/ Open
Full Text
Date
2012-12-01Author
Falvo, Michael J
Serrador, Jorge M
McAndrew, Lisa M
Chandler, Helena K
Lu, Shou-En
Quigley, Karen S
Metadata
Show full item recordUsage
This item's downloads: 0 (view details)
Cited 15 times in Scopus (view citations)
Recommended Citation
Falvo, Michael J; Serrador, Jorge M; McAndrew, Lisa M; Chandler, Helena K; Lu, Shou-En; Quigley, Karen S (2012). A retrospective cohort study of u.s. service members returning from afghanistan and iraq: is physical health worsening over time?. BMC Public Health 12 ,
Published Version
Abstract
Background: High rates of mental health disorders have been reported in veterans returning from deployment to Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom: OEF) and Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom: OIF); however, less is known about physical health functioning and its temporal course post-deployment. Therefore, our goal is to study physical health functioning in OEF/OIF veterans after deployment.
Methods: We analyzed self-reported physical health functioning as physical component summary (PCS) scores on the Veterans version of the Short Form 36 health survey in 679 OEF/OIF veterans clinically evaluated at a post-deployment health clinic. Veterans were stratified into four groups based on time post-deployment: (1Yr) 0 - 365 days; (2Yr) 366 - 730 days; (3Yr) 731 - 1095 days; and (4Yr+) > 1095 days. To assess the possibility that our effect was specific to a treatment-seeking sample, we also analyzed PCS scores from a separate military community sample of 768 OEF/OIF veterans evaluated pre-deployment and up to one-year post-deployment.
Results: In veterans evaluated at our clinic, we observed significantly lower PCS scores as time post-deployment increased (p = 0.018) after adjusting for probable post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We similarly observed in our community sample that PCS scores were lower both immediately after and one year after return from deployment (p < 0.001) relative to pre-deployment PCS. Further, PCS scores obtained 1-year post-deployment were significantly lower than scores obtained immediately post-deployment (p = 0.02).
Conclusion: In our clinical sample, the longer the duration between return from deployment and their visit to our clinic, the worse the Veteran's physical health even after adjusting for PTSD. Additionally, a decline is also present in a military community sample of OEF/OIF veterans. These data suggest that, as time since deployment length increases, physical health may deteriorate for some veterans.
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Ireland
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Developments in health literacy over time: A longitudinal qualitative research study
McKenna, Verna (NUI Galway, 2019-12-12)Introduction Conceptualising health literacy as a relational concept, which involves how individuals interact with complex health and social systems, requires a greater understanding of the context of people’s health ... -
Toward international collaboration on credentialing in health promotion and health education: The Galway Consensus Conference
Barry, Margaret M. (SAGE Journals Online, 2009-05)The interest in competencies, standards, and quality assurance in the professional preparation of public health professionals whose work involves health promotion and health education dates back several decades. In ... -
Researching health inequalities in adolescents: The development of the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Family Affluence Scale.
Molcho, Michal (Elsevier, 2008)Socioeconomic inequalities in adolescent health have been little studied until recently, partly due to the lack of appropriate and agreed upon measures for this age group. The difficulties of measuring adolescent socioeconomic ...