Long-term impact of battle injuries; five-year follow-up of injured Dutch servicemen in Afghanistan 2006-2010

Units deployed to armed conflicts are at high risk for exposure to combat events. Many battle casualties (BCs) have been reported in the recent deployment to Afghanistan. The long-term impact of these combat injuries, at their five-year end point, is currently unknown. To date, no systematic invento...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2015-02, Vol.10 (2), p.e0115119-e0115119
Main Authors: Hoencamp, Rigo, Idenburg, Floris J, van Dongen, Thijs T C F, de Kruijff, Loes G M, Huizinga, Eelco P, Plat, Marie-Christine J, Hoencamp, Erik, Leenen, Luke P H, Hamming, Jaap F, Vermetten, Eric
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Afghanistan
Battle casualties
Casualties
Cohort Studies
Comparative analysis
Consumption
Cost effectiveness
Cross-Sectional Studies
Exposure
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Injuries
Male
Mental health
Middle Aged
Military Medicine
Military Personnel - statistics & numerical data
Quality of Life
Soldiers
Studies
Surgery
Surveys
Surveys and Questionnaires
Trauma
Wounds and Injuries
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Units deployed to armed conflicts are at high risk for exposure to combat events. Many battle casualties (BCs) have been reported in the recent deployment to Afghanistan. The long-term impact of these combat injuries, at their five-year end point, is currently unknown. To date, no systematic inventory has been performed of an identified group of BCs in comparison to non-injured service members from the same operational theatre. Observational cross-sectional cohort study. Open online survey among Dutch BCs that deployed to Afghanistan (2006-2010). The Dutch BCs (n = 62) were compared to two control groups of non-injured combat groups (battle exposed [n = 53], and non-battle exposed [n = 73]). Participants rated their impact of trauma exposure (Impact of Events [IES]), post deployment reintegration (Post Deployment Reintegration Scale [PDRS]), general symptoms of distress (Symptom Checklist 90 [SCL-90]), as well as their current perceived quality of life (EuroQol-6D [EQ-6D]). Also cost effectiveness (Short From health survey [SF-36]) and care consumption were assessed (Trimbos/iMTA questionnaire). Over 90% of BCs were still in active duty. The mean scores of all questionnaires (IES, EQ-6D, SF-36, and SCL-90) of the BC group were significantly higher than in the control groups (p
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0115119