Attrition of U.S. military enlistees with waivers for hearing deficiency, 1995-2004.
BACKGROUND
Hearing deficiency is the condition for which accession medical waivers are most commonly granted. The retention of individuals entering service with a waiver for hearing deficiency has not been previously studied.


METHODS
Military retention among new enlistees with a medical waiver for hearing deficiency was compared with that among a matched comparison group of fully qualified enlistees. Comparisons according to branch of service over the first 3 years of service were performed with the Kaplan-Meier product-limit method and proportional-hazards model.


RESULTS
Army subjects had significantly lower retention rates than did their fully qualified counterparts. In the adjusted model, Army and Navy enlistees with a waiver for hearing deficiency had a significantly lower likelihood of retention than did their matched counterparts.


CONCLUSIONS
The increased likelihood of medical attrition in enlistees with a waiver for hearing loss provides no evidence to make the hearing accession standard more lenient and validates a selective hearing loss waiver policy.
Niebuhr
David W
DW
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Division of Preventive Medicine, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA.
Li
Yuanzhang
Y
Powers
Timothy E
TE
Krauss
Margot R
MR
Chandler
David
D
Helfer
Thomas
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008887:Military Medicine; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010563:Personnel Turnover / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D014481:United States; D014938:Work Capacity Evaluation