Effects of Iraq/Afghanistan Deployments on PTSD Diagnoses for Still Active Personnel in All Four Services
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Authors
Shen, Yu-Chu
Arkes, Jeremy
Kwan, Boon Wah
Tan, Lai Yee
Williams, Thomas V.
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2010-10-01
Date
Publisher
Association of Military Surgeons of the United States
Language
Abstract
We estimate the effect of deployment location and length on risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We draw a random sample of active duty enlisted personnel serving between 2001 and 2006 from a TRICARE beneficiary database and link deployment characteristics from the contingency tracking system. Using logistic regressions, we found that deployment to Iraq/Afghanistan increases the odds of developing PTSD substantially, relative to those in other duties, with the largest effect observed for the Navy (OR = 9.06, p < 0.01) and the smallest effect for the Air Force (OR = 1.25, p < 0.01). A deployment longer than 180 days increases the odds of PTSD by 1.11 to 2.84 times compared to a short tour. For Army and Navy, a deployment to Iraq/Afghanistan further exacerbates the adverse effect of tour length.
Type
Article
Description
The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.7205/MILMED-D-10-00086
Series/Report No
Department
Business & Public Policy (GSBPP)
Organization
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NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Naval Postgraduate School Graduate School of Business and Public Policy Direct Funded Research Program
Funder
Format
7 p.
Citation
Shen, Yu-Chu, et al. "Effects of Iraq/Afghanistan deployments on PTSD diagnoses for still active personnel in all four services." Military medicine 175.10 (2010): 763-769.
Distribution Statement
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This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.