학술논문

Combat blast injuries: Injury severity and posttraumatic stress disorder interaction on career outcomes in male servicemembers.
Document Type
Article
Source
Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development. 2013, Vol. 50 Issue 1, p7-15. 9p.
Subject
*WAR
*ANALYSIS of variance
*CHI-squared test
*COMPARATIVE studies
*LIFE skills
*LONGITUDINAL method
*POST-traumatic stress disorder
*RESEARCH funding
*MILITARY personnel
*STATISTICS
*T-test (Statistics)
*LOGISTIC regression analysis
*SAMPLE size (Statistics)
*DATA analysis
*BLAST injuries
*SEVERITY of illness index
*DATA analysis software
*DESCRIPTIVE statistics
Language
ISSN
0748-7711
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to describe career performance outcomes after combat blast injury and to examine the relationship between the injury severity and type of military discharge. A retrospective cohort study of 4,255 male service-members injured in a combat blast as a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom was completed. In the total sample, 37.8% experienced a normal discharge and 8.3% had an early discharge. Of the 2,229 members who had a discharge code, 29.8% experienced a disability discharge. Both early attrition and disability discharge proportions were higher in those with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than in those without PTSD. There was a significant interaction between PTSD and injury severity in the discharge disability outcome. In those without PTSD, there was a dose-response relationship between injury severity and disability discharge. In those with PTSD, injury severity predicted disability discharge. The relationship between injury severity and disability discharge was less striking in service-members with PTSD than without PTSD. The effect of PTSD and injury severity on career performance outcomes after blast injuries should be factored into outcome planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]