title: Occupational trauma and mental illness--combat, peacekeeping, or relief work and the national co-morbidity survey replication.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Peacekeepers, relief workers, and military members experience multiple traumas, and trauma is believed to increase risk for psychiatric distress. We examined whether combat and/or peacekeeping or relief work was associated with subsequent mental illness.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using data from the US National Co-morbidity Survey Replication (n = 2383), we estimated whether combat, peacekeeping, or relief work was associated with increased prevalence of mental illness through bivariate cross-tabulations and multivariate logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Combat was associated with increased subsequent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol or drug issues more than peacekeeping or relief work.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Combat, alone or combined with peacekeeping/relief work, appears to be a risk factor for subsequent PTSD and issues with drugs and alcohol. Peacekeeping/relief work without combat does not appear to be associated with these diagnoses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found an association between combat and subsequent PTSD and drug and alcohol issues. Absent combat, peacekeeping, or relief work were not associated with mental illness. Previous diagnoses and trauma exposure may increase potential for subsequent mental health problems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health, The George Washington University, USA. connort@hsph.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Connorton
authors.forename: Melissa J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Perry
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hemenway
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015995:Prevalence; D012066:Relief Work / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology