title: Self-rated health and subsequent health care use among military personnel returning from international deployments.
abstract: Individual health status assessment upon completion of U.S military deployments was standardized in 1999 with a brief health assessment questionnaire. This cohort study analyzed health status responses and their relationship to postdeployment health outcomes among 16,142 military personnel who completed a health questionnaire after a deployment ending in 1999. Respondents were Army and Air Force personnel returning from Europe or Southwest Asia. Fourteen percent documented at least one health concern and 1.8% had fair/poor self-rated health. In the 6 months after deployment, 1.4% were hospitalized, 25% made five or more outpatient visits, and 4% separated from military service. Deployers with fair/poor self-rated health were at a significantly increased risk for high use of outpatient services (risk ratio, men 1.8, women 1.7) but not for hospitalization or separation. Self-report of low health status or other health concerns may help identify deployers with higher health care needs after future deployments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814-4799, USA.
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Trump
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brady
authors.forename: Cara H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Olsen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008889:Military Personnel; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires