title: Medical causes of temporary or definitive leaves from a French counterterrorist unit pre-internship.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Each year, the French Special Weapons And Tactics team, Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale, recruits new members through a physically demanding 8-week selection process. The goal of this study is to estimate the incidence and the causes for temporary or final interruptions during this process for medical reasons.
  
  
  METHODS
  All of the candidates for the November 2015 selection process were included in this prospective study. The number and reasons for temporary or final interruptions were documented by military general practitioners.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The applicants were 48 law enforcement professionals (2 women, mean age 29.4 years, range 22-35). In 14 cases, a temporary interruption was required and in five cases the selection process prematurely ended. Fifty-two per cent of the temporary interruptions were due to sprains, tendinopathies, fractures or muscle tears, 11% were due to burns, wounds or subcutaneous bruises, 16% were due to cranial trauma and 21% were due to medical causes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The high prevalence of minor traumatology that we observed is similar to the ones observed in other cohorts describing initial training for military personnel in the conventional forces. However, the presence of other pathologies in our study, such as cranial trauma or medical causes, is due to the specificity of this internship selection granting access to an elite unit.
authors.affiliation: Antenne médicale spécialisée de Satory, Versailles, France.|Ecole du Val-de-Grâce, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Thabouillot
authors.affiliation: Antenne médicale spécialisée de Satory, Versailles, France.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roffi
authors.affiliation: Antenne médicale spécialisée de Satory, Versailles, France.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bertho
authors.affiliation: Antenne médicale spécialisée de Satory, Versailles, France.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ramon
authors.affiliation: Antenne médicale spécialisée de Satory, Versailles, France.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Commeau
authors.affiliation: Antenne médicale spécialisée de Satory, Versailles, France.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fressancourt
authors.affiliation: Antenne médicale spécialisée de Satory, Versailles, France.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Quemeneur
authors.affiliation: Hôpital d'Instruction des Armées Bégin, Service de cardiologie, Saint-Mandé, France.
authors.forename: N-C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Roche
authors.affiliation: Antenne médicale spécialisée de Satory, Versailles, France.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Dubourg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002056:Burns / Q000453:epidemiology; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000453:epidemiology; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D035846:Law Enforcement; D008297:Male; D016495:Police / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013180:Sprains and Strains / Q000453:epidemiology; D052256:Tendinopathy / Q000453:epidemiology; D023481:Terrorism; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Army training; Special Weapons And Tactics unit