Past trends and current status of self-reported incidence and impact of disease and nonbattle injury in military operations in Southwest Asia and the Middle East.

• Autores: Mark S Riddle, David R Tribble, Shannon D Putnam, Manal Mostafa, Theodore R Brown, Andrew Letizia, Adam W Armstrong, John W Sanders
• Localización: American journal of public health, ISSN 0090-0036, Vol. 98, Nº. 12, 2008, págs. 2199-2206
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Objectives: To evaluate the evolutional changes in disease and nonbattle injury in a long-term deployment setting, we investigated trends of selected disease and nonbattle injury (NBI) incidence among US military personnel deployed in ongoing military operations in Southwest Asia and the Middle East.; Methods: Participants completed an anonymous questionnaire concerning diarrhea, acute respiratory illness (ARI), and NBIs. We compared incidence, morbidity, and risk associations of disease and NBI incidence with historical data. We analyzed a clinic screening form to describe trends in diarrhea incidence over a 3-year period.; Results: Between April 2006 and March 2007, 3374 troops completed deployment questionnaires. Incidence of diarrhea was higher than that of ARI and NBI (12.1, 7.1, and 2.5 episodes per 100 person-months, respectively), but ARI and NBI resulted in more-frequent health system utilization (both P < .001) and decreased work performance (P < .001 and P = .05, respectively) than did diarrhea. Compared with historical disease and NBI incidence rates, diarrhea and NBI incidence declined over a 4-year period, whereas ARI remained relatively constant.; Conclusions: Diarrhea, ARI, and NBI are important health concerns among deployed military personnel. Public health and preventive measures are needed to mitigate this burden.;