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Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depression Among U.S. Military Health Care Professionals Deployed in Support of Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan
Author(s) -
Jacobson Isabel G.,
Horton Jaime L.,
LeardMann Cynthia A.,
Ryan Margaret A.K.,
Boyko Edward J.,
Wells Timothy S.,
Smith Besa,
Smith Tyler C.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.21753
Subject(s) - depression (economics) , odds ratio , odds , psychiatry , health care , mental health , medicine , prospective cohort study , cohort study , military personnel , public health , cohort , confidence interval , gerontology , psychology , nursing , logistic regression , surgery , pathology , political science , law , economics , macroeconomics , economic growth
Limited prospective studies exist that evaluate the mental health status of military health care professionals who have deployed. This study used prospective data from the Millennium Cohort Study with longitudinal analysis techniques to examine whether health care professionals deployed in support of the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan were more likely to screen positive for new‐onset posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression after deployment than individuals from other occupations. Of 65,108 subjects included, 9,371 (14.4%) reported working as health care professionals. The rates of new positive screens for PTSD or depression were similar for those in health care occupations (4.7% and 4.3%) compared with those in other occupations (4.6% and 3.9%) for the first and second follow‐up, respectively. Among military personnel deployed with combat experience, health care professionals did not have increased odds for new‐onset PTSD or depression over time. Among deployed health care professionals, combat experience significantly increased the odds: adjusted odds ratio = 2.01; 95% confidence interval [1.06, 3.83] for new‐onset PTSD or depression. These results suggest that combat experience, not features specific to being a health care professional, was the key exposure explaining the development of these outcomes.