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25% of war vets are 'mental'
13/03/2007 08:53 - (SA)
Chicago - A quarter of the Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans treated with US government-funded health care have been diagnosed with a mental disorder, a study published Monday found.
When psycho-social disorders such as domestic violence were included, the number of war veterans suffering from mental illnesses rose to 31%.
The instances of mental illness among recently discharged troops and members of the National Guard are significantly higher than those of a study published last year which examined active duty troops, the lead researcher told AFP.
That study found that while a third of returning troops were accessing mental health services, only 12% were diagnosed with a mental illness or psychosocial disorder.
More than one illness
"That's a big difference," said Karen Seal, a physician and researcher at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Centre.
Of significant concern was the finding that 56% of those diagnosed had more than one mental illness, Seal said.
"When people have more than one diagnosis they become more challenging to diagnose and, more importantly, we believe are more challenging to treat," she explained.
The most common diagnosis was post-traumatic stress disorder at 13% of troops, followed by anxiety disorder, adjustment disorder, depression and substance abuse.
"The majority of military personnel experience high intensity guerrilla warfare and the chronic threat of roadside bombs and improvised explosive devices," the authors wrote.
"Some soldiers endure multiple tours of duty, many experience traumatic injury, and more of the wounded survive than ever before."
Seal and her colleagues examined the records of 103 788 veterans of these operations who were first seen at Veterans Affairs facilities between September 30 2001, and September 30, 2005.
About 29% of war veterans accessed VA health care facilities, the study found.
The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association's Archives of Internal Medicine.
- AFP
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