Military medicine
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Between 2001 and 2009, opioid analgesic prescriptions in the Military Health System quadrupled to 3.8 million. The sheer quantity of opioid analgesics available sets the stage for issues related to misuse, abuse, and diversion. To address this issue, the Department of Defense implemented several directives and clinical guidelines to improve access to appropriate pain care and safe opioid prescribing. Unfortunately, little has been done to characterize changing patterns of opioid use in active duty service members (ADSM), so little is known about how combat operations and military health care policy may have influenced this significant problem. We examined changes in opioid use for ADSM between 2006 and 2014, compared trends with the civilian population, and explored the potential role of military-specific factors in changes in opioid use in the Military Health System. ⋯ After December 2011, opioid use patterns significantly decreased in both civilian and ADSM populations, but more so in the military population. Many factors, such as numbers of those wounded in action and the structural organization of the Military Health System, may have caused the decline, although more than likely the decrease was influenced by many factors inside and outside of the military, including policy directives and cultural changes.
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Operation brain trauma therapy (OBTT) is a multi-center, pre-clinical drug and biomarker screening consortium for traumatic brain injury (TBI). Therapies are screened across three rat models (parasagittal fluid percussion injury, controlled cortical impact [CCI], and penetrating ballistic-like brain injury). Operation brain trauma therapy seeks to define therapies that show efficacy across models that should have the best chance in randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and/or to define model-dependent therapeutic effects, including TBI protein biomarker responses, to guide precision medicine-based clinical trials in targeted pathologies. ⋯ Critically, glial fibrillary acidic protein levels predicted treatment effects. Operation brain trauma therapy suggests that levetiracetam merits additional pre-clinical and clinical evaluation and that glibenclamide and amantadine merit testing in specific TBI phenotypes. Operation brain trauma therapy has established that rigorous, multi-center consortia could revolutionize TBI therapy and biomarker development.
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Sickle cell trait (SCT) affects an estimated 5.02% of non-Hispanic blacks, 1.08% of Hispanics, and 0.1% of Whites in the U.S. military. Policies for SCT screening and occupational restrictions vary by service. Population-based studies of SCT with quantification of military-relevant outcomes are lacking. ⋯ We found that SCT-positive service members deployed more frequently, for greater lengths of time, and remained in service longer. No significant difference in crude mortality ratio was discovered. Additional research on military-relevant outcomes and a cost-effectiveness analysis of SCT screening practices are needed to inform evidence-based SCT enlistment policies.
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Optimal balance control requires a complex integration of sensory information from the visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive systems. The goal of this study is to determine if the instrumented modified Clinical Test of Sensory Integration and Balance (mCTSIB) was impaired acutely after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) when postural sway under varying sensory conditions was measured with a wearable inertial sensor. ⋯ The results from this study highlight the importance of detecting postural sway deficits during sensorimotor integration in mild TBI individuals.
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This study presents a grounded theory analysis of in-depth interviews of United States Army Combat Medics (CMs) who had served in Iraq and/or Afghanistan. The study explores how 17 CMs nominated by their peers as resilient cope with military stressors in order to identify the factors that enable them to thrive amidst harsh conditions. ⋯ Prominent behavioral tendencies of forging loyalty likely developed during childhood and re-enforced by families, friends, and other role models. Based on the findings, new training and education efforts should focus on developing positive emotional, environmental, and social resources to enhance the health and well-being of service members and their families.