A new study by researchers from the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis, the Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University School of Medicine reports that a stepped-care strategy improved function and decreased pain severity, producing at least a 30 percent improvement in pain-related disability.
SILVER SPRING, MD, March 9, 2015 – If Department of Defense expansion of military programs and resources for diagnoses and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) continues, incidence rates for both diseases in the post-war period will be much higher than in the pre-war period, according to a newly released health surveillance report.
Evaluating military personnel with blast-related mild traumatic brain injuries, researchers have found that early symptoms of post-traumatic stress, such as anxiety, emotional numbness, flashbacks and irritability, are the strongest predictors of later disability. The results were surprising because mental health more closely correlated with disability than assessments typically made after concussions, such as tests of memory, thinking, balance, coordination and severity of headaches and dizziness, according to the study led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) Human Performance Resource Center (HPRC), working in conjunction with the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center and the United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, Mass., has launched the Combat Rations Database, or ComRaD (http://hprc-online.org/comrad/) which provides nutritional information on individual combat ration meals and their food components. This interactive website features standard nutrition facts, including calories, fat, vitamins and minerals of the MRE, First Strike Ration® (FSR), and Meal, Cold Weather/Long Range Patrol (MCW/LRP), from their most recent production years.
Women veterans face a different home front battle with heart disease. Younger and more depressed when getting attention for chest pain -- heart tests often show a surprising result.
An Iowa State professor has new perspective as to the challenges veterans face when seeking mental health care. It’s an issue Alicia Carriquiry was aware, but she never fully understood the need until listening to veterans testify about their situation.
Blame and anger associated with the grief of caring for a loved one with a traumatic-brain injury (TBI) may be related to inflammation and certain chronic diseases, according to researchers from Loyola University Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing. These findings were published in the latest issue of Biological Research for Nursing.
Aside from eight of McChord's C-17 Globemaster III cargo planes being slated to inactive status a result of a U.S. defense budget mandate, the need for Air Force Reserve flight nurses is still a main concern.
Why do some people develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) while others who suffered the same ordeal do not? A new UCLA discovery may shed light on the answer.
Military service members with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), or concussion, should follow a six-step process of progressive activity, leading to return to active duty, according to new clinical recommendations by an expert panel. The guidance appears in the January-February issue of The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, official journal of the Brain Injury Association of America, an annual special issue devoted to new research on TBI in the military. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
The incidence rate of diagnoses of glaucoma among service members younger than 30 years of age increased slightly during a 15-year surveillance period, most likely reflecting improved screening for the disease within the U.S. Armed Forces, according to a newly released health surveillance report.
University of Kentucky researchers have exposed new information about the combined cognitive effects of mild traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress disorder in war veterans.
Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have developed new technology that can assess the location and impact of a brain injury merely by tracking the eye movements of patients as they watch music videos for less than four minutes.
A new study in the American Journal of Health Promotion finds that U.S. military culture perpetuates the notion that using tobacco provides stress relief.
UCLA/Duke University National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, under a new agreement with the United States Department of Defense, will train behavioral health specialists who work on military bases to provide assistance for military families impacted by child abuse, domestic violence and other forms of child traumatic stress.
Soldiers hospitalized with a psychiatric disorder have a significantly elevated risk for suicide in the year following hospital discharge, according to findings published in JAMA Psychiatry, Nov. 12, 2014. Although this has long been known in the civilian sector, it has never before been studied in the military population.
It’s well known that battlefield explosions can cause hearing loss, but veterans may be surprised to learn that vision can also suffer — sometimes long after combat exposure. A new research study investigates why this happens, and how it can be prevented.
In honor of Veterans Day, the peer-reviewed journal Women's Health Issues (WHI) today released a new Special Collection on women veterans’ health, with a focus on mental health. The special collection also highlights recent studies addressing healthcare services, reproductive health and cardiovascular health of women veterans.
Service members diagnosed with chronic insomnia had a two times higher risk of developing hypertension and type II diabetes than military personnel who had not been diagnosed with the condition, according to a newly released health surveillance report of a study of the associations between these diseases.
In a study published in the Nov. 1 issue of Neural Computation, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that a high quality brand of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) – a compound commonly sold as a dietary supplement – provides health benefits to persons suffering from Gulf War illness symptoms.
Addressing the dual diagnosis of mental health and substance abuse is the focus of a new program of NYU Langone Medical Center’s Steven & Alexandra Cohen Military Family Clinic, a major component of the hospital’s Steven & Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center, which encompasses both clinical care and research components. The Welcome Back Veterans Dual Diagnosis Program integrates both mental health treatment with substance abuse services to veterans and their families free of charge.
New results from the largest-ever study of mental health risk and resilience in Army personnel show that despite higher rates of current mental disorders and suicidality among U.S. Army soldiers than similarly matched civilians, the rates of most pre-enlistment mental disorders among new soldiers are comparable to those of civilians.
SILVER SPRING, MD, October 20, 2014 – Little quantitative evidence exists to show that electronic event-based biosurveillance systems that gather near real-time information to identify infectious disease outbreaks have led to specific health policy actions, decisions or outcomes, according a new study published today in the peer-review journal, PLoS One.
A single application of a common anesthetic procedure could be the answer to alleviating anxiety, depression and psychological pain in those suffering from chronic, extreme post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to research presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY™ 2014 annual meeting in New Orleans.
In a new study, researchers are working to understand what helps military couples make a smooth transition from deployment to reintegration. The U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command has awarded a grant to twin sisters Dr. Leanne Knobloch from the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois and Dr. Lynne Knobloch-Fedders from The Family Institute at Northwestern University to follow military couples from the first days of reunion.
A checklist for trauma and emergency anesthesia, published last year in Anesthesia & Analgesia, has been included in the US Department of Defense's Joint Theater Trauma System Clinical Practice Guideline for trauma anesthesia.
Mississippi State University will be the first higher learning institution in the nation to partner with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide timely, specialized health benefits to veterans.
SILVER SPRING, MD, September 30, 2014 – An average of approximately 10,000 active component service members were diagnosed with erectile dysfunction each year during a 10-year surveillance period and the annual number of incident cases doubled between 2004 and 2013, according to a newly released health surveillance report.
RTI International has been awarded one of 13 research projects to explore nondrug approaches to managing pain and related health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), drug abuse, and sleep issues. The effort seeks to enhance options for the management of pain and associated problems in U.S. military personnel, veterans, and their families.
Blue Star Families, the largest chapter-based military families support organization in the country, today announced the results of its fifth annual Military Family Lifestyle Survey. The key concerns identified by the responding military service members, veterans, and family members were pay/benefits and changes to retirement benefits. Other issues included military spouse employment, the effects of deployment on children, military lifestyle uncertainty, the military civilian divide, and the VA disability backlog. Additionally, this year’s survey also revealed information on financial readiness, caregiving, mental health, transition, and the impact of downsizing on the military community.
Wichita State University's Center of Innovation for Biomaterials in Orthopaedic Research (CIBOR) has developed a fast-setting splint that provides improved stabilization from what the Department of Defense currently uses in the battlefield.
The U.S. military has made progress by conducting sexual assault training, but a new University of Michigan study raises questions about the effectiveness of those efforts.
A more than $2.52 million grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to test the effects of high-intensity functional training compared to usual Army physical readiness training on changes in body composition, health and fitness among active duty military personnel.
A 30-year-old unvaccinated male security forces student is the first reported case of spreading the smallpox vaccine virus (vaccinia) across his face by shaving after he had inadvertently acquired the virus during combative training at the largest U.S. Air Force training installation, according to a recently released health surveillance report.
High rates of suicide among military service members and veterans may be related to traumatic experiences they had before enlisting, making them more vulnerable to suicidal behavior when coping with combat and multiple deployments, according to the findings of several recent studies presented at the American Psychological Association’s 122nd Annual Convention.
In a new special issue of the American Journal of Public Health, find studies about smoke-free veteran homes; racial disparities among VA cancer patients; and veteran suicidal ideation and mental distress.
Controlled application of vacuum pressure is a promising approach to limiting tissue damage after traumatic brain injury (TBI), suggests an experimental study in the August issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
Females, white non-Hispanic, and younger service members had the highest incidence rates of sunburn diagnoses among active component service members, according to a new health surveillance report released today.
For survivors of severe combat injuries threatening more than one limb, reconstructive surgical procedures using tissue flaps have a good record of safety and effectiveness in avoiding amputation, reports a paper in the August issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
Cheri Plasters, a University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing graduate and nurse in transplant and general surgical services in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit, will implement the “Have you ever served in the military?” campaign at UAB.
Sixty percent of U.S. Army soldiers who were unable to return to a military career after an Iraq deployment couldn’t do so because of a muscle, bone or joint injury.
Older veterans who have experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI) are 60 percent more likely to later develop dementia than veterans without TBI, according to a study published in the June 25, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.