Psychiatric Aeromedical Evacuations of Deployed Active Duty U.S. Military Personnel During Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn

The primary objective of this study was to describe the demographic, clinical, and attrition characteristics of active duty U.S. military service members who were aeromedically evacuated from Iraq and Afghanistan theaters with a psychiatric condition as the primary diagnosis. The study links the U.S...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Military medicine 2018-11, Vol.183 (11-12), p.e649-e658
Main Authors: Peterson, Alan L, Hale, Willie J, Baker, Monty T, Cigrang, Jeffrey A, Moore, Brian A, Straud, Casey L, Dukes, Susan F, Young-McCaughan, Stacey, Gardner, Cubby L, Arant-Daigle, Deborah, Pugh, Mary Jo, Williams Christians, Iman, Mintz, Jim
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adjustment Disorders - epidemiology
Adjustment Disorders - therapy
Adult
Aerospace medicine
Aerospace Medicine - methods
Aerospace Medicine - statistics & numerical data
Afghan Campaign 2001
Air Ambulances - statistics & numerical data
Airlifts
Armed forces
Bipolar Disorder - epidemiology
Bipolar Disorder - therapy
Chi-Square Distribution
Chi-square test
Depression - epidemiology
Depression - therapy
Evacuations & rescues
Female
Humans
International Classification of Diseases - trends
Iraq War, 2003-2011
Male
Medical diagnosis
Mental Disorders - epidemiology
Mental Disorders - therapy
Middle Aged
Military deployment
Military personnel
Military Personnel - psychology
Military Personnel - statistics & numerical data
Patient Identification Systems - methods
Patient Identification Systems - statistics & numerical data
Post traumatic stress disorder
Psychiatric Nursing - methods
Psychiatric Nursing - statistics & numerical data
Retrospective Studies
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - epidemiology
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - therapy
Travel - statistics & numerical data
United States - epidemiology
Warfare
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Summary:The primary objective of this study was to describe the demographic, clinical, and attrition characteristics of active duty U.S. military service members who were aeromedically evacuated from Iraq and Afghanistan theaters with a psychiatric condition as the primary diagnosis. The study links the U.S. Transportation Command Regulating and Command and Control Evacuation System (TRAC2ES) data with the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) to conduct an examination of the long-term occupational impact of psychiatric aeromedical evacuations on military separations and discharges. Retrospective analyses were conducted on the demographic, clinical, and attrition information of active duty service members (N = 7,023) who received a psychiatric aeromedical evacuation from Iraq or Afghanistan between 2001 and 2013 using TRAC2ES data. Additionally, TRAC2ES database was compared with DMDC data to analyze personal and service demographics, aeromedical evacuation information, and reasons for military separation with the entire 2013 active duty force. Chi-square tests of independence and standardized residuals were used to identify cells with observed frequencies or proportions significantly different than expected by chance. Additionally, OR were calculated to provide context about the nature of any significant relationships. Compared with the active duty comparison sample, those with a psychiatric aeromedical evacuation tended to be younger, female, white, divorced or widowed, and less educated. They were also more likely to be junior enlisted service members in the Army serving in a Combat Arms military occupational specialty. The primary psychiatric conditions related to the aeromedical evacuation were depressive disorders (25%), adjustment disorders (18%), post-traumatic stress disorder (9%), bipolar disorders (6%), and anxiety disorders (6%). Approximately, 3% were evacuated for suicidal ideation and associated behaviors. Individuals who received a psychiatric aeromedical evacuation were almost four times as likely (53%) to have been subsequently separated from active duty at the time of the data analysis compared with other active duty service members (14%). The current study also found that peaks in the number of aeromedical evacuations coincided with significant combat operational events. These peaks almost always preceded or followed a significant operational event. An unexpected finding of the present study was that movement classification code was not predictiv
ISSN:0026-4075
1930-613X
DOI:10.1093/milmed/usy188