Open AccessHealth Services Use Among Gulf War Veterans and Gulf War–Era Nondeployed Veterans: A Large Population-Based Survey
Author(s) -
Drew A. Helmer,
Mindy E. Flanagan,
Robert F. Woolson,
Bradley N. Doebbeling
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2006.104299
Subject(s) - medicine , military personnel , odds ratio , persian , gulf war , confidence interval , emergency department , national guard , environmental health , population , occupational safety and health , odds , demography , medical emergency , psychiatry , logistic regression , geography , history , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , public administration , pathology , political science , economic history , sociology
We sought to analyze the self-reported hospitalization, emergency department visits, and outpatient visits of Persian Gulf War (deployed; n=1896) and Persian Gulf War-era (nondeployed; n=1799) military personnel 5 years postconflict to determine whether these groups had different rates of health care use. Compared with personnel who had not been deployed, personnel who had been deployed were more likely to have visited an emergency department (25% vs 21%; odds ratio [OR]=1.24; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.06, 1.51]). Among these groups, the National Guard and Reserve personnel were more likely to have been hospitalized than were the regular military personnel (OR= 1.65; 95% CI=1.21, 2.26).